Guest Author • May 18, 2020 •
Richard Shaw, Massey University Once upon a very different time, British cabinet minister Michael Gove sneered that “people have had enough of experts from organisations with acronyms saying that they know what is best and getting it consistently wrong.” But that was then and this is now. One or two obvious exceptions aside, we are all in … Read More
Siouxsie Wiles • May 14, 2020 •
Today Aotearoa New Zealand wakes up in alert level two. It’s no secret that I would have preferred for us to stay at level three for another week or so. That’s because I’m worried we don’t quite yet know how effective level three has been at keeping us on our path to eliminate Covid-19. But the government has had … Read More
Guest Author • May 14, 2020 •
Nik Green Governments around the world have restricted the activities of their citizens in the fight against COVID-19 under various laws and powers. Over the past couple of weeks, the legality of the restrictions New Zealand has put in place has been questioned by law professors Claudia Geiringer and Andrew Geddis, and the … Read More
Guest Author • May 12, 2020 •
Ron Crawford Lockdown hasn’t seemed too bad. I’m well set up to work from home, it’s been easy for me to take a walk on our nearby beach, and the weather has been mostly calm and sunny. Beach bubble – James Soligo I’ve noticed many families enjoying the opportunity to spend time together over the last few weeks – here … Read More
Guest Author • May 11, 2020 •
Murray Sherwin The die is cast. We won’t see the official numbers for quite a while, but it is already apparent that New Zealand is headed into the sharpest and deepest recession in 100 years. We know we will experience unemployment at, and perhaps above, levels not seen since the late 1980s, company failures and large income losses across the … Read More
Guest Author • May 11, 2020 •
Joy Damousi, Australian Catholic University One of the haunting images of this pandemic will be stationary cruise ships – deadly carriers of COVID-19 – at anchor in harbours and unwanted. Docked in ports and feared. The news of the dramatic spread of the virus on the Diamond Princess from early February made the news real for many Australians who’d … Read More
Public Health Expert • May 11, 2020 •
Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Sophie Febery, Dr Ling Chan, Dr Amanda Kvalsvig, Prof Michael Baker In this blog we identify six likely benefits from requiring fabric mask use in public transportation and border control settings in the “peri-elimination” context that New Zealand is currently in. Given these likely benefits and the relatively low costs (especially if the Government provides free … Read More
Alison Campbell • May 11, 2020 •
In the last couple of days I’ve seen a lot of individuals and pages share links to a trailer for “Plandemic”. And I’ve had friends ask me what I think of it. They’ve commented that it looks and sounds pretty ‘sciencey’ but wanted another opinion. So, I had a look, and here goes. The “Plandemic” trailer focuses on statements … Read More
Guest Author • May 08, 2020 •
Ilan Noy, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington With New Zealand’s May 14 budget expected to chart the way out of the economic crisis, Finance Minister Grant Robertson should be looking to the past as well as the future. Finance ministers elsewhere are facing similar decisions, many even more constrained than New Zealand’s. But the common claim that … Read More
Guest Author • May 08, 2020 •
Dave Heatley New Zealanders have a lot of experience with islands and unwanted organisms – keeping them away, learning to live with them, and – in just a few cases – eliminating them. What can that experience tell us about plans to eliminate COVID-19? I can’t claim any expertise on polio, measles, Mycoplasma bovis or thar. But I do … Read More