“A series of announcements about molnupiravir and vaccine mandates failed to hide the fact that the Government still
doesn’t have a clue what happens next or how to get out of the current lockdown,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.
“Now that the Government has given a vaccination deadline to health and disability workers and teachers, it should set
one for the whole country.
“The Government should say that on 1 December everyone will have had a chance to be vaccinated, then New Zealand opens
up. In the meantime, it should say that alert levels three and four will not be applied to any suburb that reaches 90
per cent in the meantime.
“Why did Auckland go to Stage 1 last week but not Stage 2 this week? There is no logical reason given. They are making
it up as they go.
“Northland’s ‘short, sharp’ lockdown was never sustainable. It takes five days to get infectious and two days to process
a test. Four days was never going to help. Once again, a region has been messed around for no reason.
“How did the Northland cases get through the border, what kind of exemptions did they have and which company sponsored
them? Did they have no official exemption at all, but hoodwink the cops with a forged one? So many questions and so few
answers, and without acknowledging the problem there is no way the Government can fix it.
“The Government is caught between its old eradication strategy that no longer works, and a new strategy that isn’t
ready. Chaos is filling the void. A clear deadline and an action plan to reduce transmission, hospitalisation, and death
from COVID-19 would give people the certainty they need.
ACT’s full COVID 3.0 plan says that with the eradication strategy no longer viable, there needs to be a change of
approach, based on five movements:
1. Recognise that eradication no longer stacks up. We must move to a policy of harm minimisation. This policy should aim
to reduce transmission, hospitalisation, and death from COVID at the least possible cost of overall wellbeing.
2. Move from isolating whole cities to isolating only those who it makes sense to isolate. Personal isolation should be
restricted to three groups: those who are medically vulnerable and require special protection, those who have recently
arrived in New Zealand and are privately isolating, and those who have tested positive as part of widespread
surveillance testing.
3. Move from chronic fear and uncertainty and get on a clear path to restoring freedom. We should settle when the
vaccine rollout is ‘complete’ and aim to get Kiwis home for Christmas.
4. Move from a ‘government knows best’ approach to an approach of openness, and host all in ‘sprints’. In each sprint,
the business community and all of society are invited to help reach clearly identified goals of lower transmission
rates, hospitalisations and deaths, in time for reopening.
5. The entire tone of New Zealand’s COVID response should shift from fear and a singular focus on public health to a
focus on maximising overall wellbeing.