Where I am we were briefly in the same situation - we also did an early lockdown, so for a few days we had no active cases and went 15 days without getting any new ones. Unfortunately, it only...
Where I am we were briefly in the same situation - we also did an early lockdown, so for a few days we had no active cases and went 15 days without getting any new ones. Unfortunately, it only takes one... a doctor (of all people!) had not isolated appropriately after travel and now we have a new cluster. :(
Don't mean to be a downer, of course! It's still great news, and honestly it's probably easier to maintain for them being that they're an island nation. Honestly I dream of immigrating there sometimes, beautiful country and I was pretty surprised by how little culture shock I had when travelling there.
Hope you don't mind that I did a bit of profile digging to find out you're Canadian—sorry :P. How hard would it be to "close" your southern border, to speak? New Zealand obviously has the...
Hope you don't mind that I did a bit of profile digging to find out you're Canadian—sorry :P. How hard would it be to "close" your southern border, to speak? New Zealand obviously has the advantage of having an ocean border only—and we've instituted a mandatory managed isolation period of 14 days for all arrivals, including citizens, which include police and health official checks, which will hopefully solve the problem of new clusters breaking out here, at least until a vaccine is developed or other countries similarly arrive at elimination.
No worries! I probably should have mentioned it in the comment for context. Specifically, I live in New Brusnwick, which is one of the more rural areas in the country and generally a bit poorer...
No worries! I probably should have mentioned it in the comment for context. Specifically, I live in New Brusnwick, which is one of the more rural areas in the country and generally a bit poorer than other provinces.
First thing is that the US-Canada border right now is already quite heavily restricted. Our economies are very tightly intertwined so while we can limit travel for personal reasons, limiting commercial activity would be an actual nightmare. We import and export a lot of essential goods to and from each other, and there is a small but not insignificant number of people who live in one country but work in the other. Regardless, any international travel is supposed to be followed by a 14-day isolation period.
Second thing is that the issue is that the doctor actually didn't import the case from the USA, he traveled to a neighbouring province, Quebec. Each province has some level of political independence, so the COVID situation differs between them and the premier of my province has actually enabled checks at provincial border crossings. People are being turned away on the roads if they are crossing into the province for "nonessential" reasons and being advised that they must isolate for 14 days if they are coming into the province from anywhere, whether it's from another country or another province.
(The legality of turning people away is honestly kind of... touchy, but that's a whole other discussion.)
Unfortunately, the superspreader doctor lied to officials, his colleagues, and his patients at... basically every step in the process. The hospital he worked had had to shut down their emergency room for a day to deep clean it! And obviously the enforcement on the isolation on his return was not effective or not enough of a deterrent to get him to self-isolate.
NZ is for sure in a better position in that NZ most likely has more power to enforce restrictions politically, geographically, and practically (a more tightly managed isolation period would probably have caught Dr. Dumbass sooner). Lower risk isn't zero risk, though, so I still wouldn't 100% dismiss it as a possibility that some goofus who's supposed to be isolating sneaks out even if it's against the law and against all common decency.
For sure still congratulations and good job! Just be emotionally prepared for the possibility of having to re-tighten some restrictions here and there.
Where I am we were briefly in the same situation - we also did an early lockdown, so for a few days we had no active cases and went 15 days without getting any new ones. Unfortunately, it only takes one... a doctor (of all people!) had not isolated appropriately after travel and now we have a new cluster. :(
Don't mean to be a downer, of course! It's still great news, and honestly it's probably easier to maintain for them being that they're an island nation. Honestly I dream of immigrating there sometimes, beautiful country and I was pretty surprised by how little culture shock I had when travelling there.
Hope you don't mind that I did a bit of profile digging to find out you're Canadian—sorry :P. How hard would it be to "close" your southern border, to speak? New Zealand obviously has the advantage of having an ocean border only—and we've instituted a mandatory managed isolation period of 14 days for all arrivals, including citizens, which include police and health official checks, which will hopefully solve the problem of new clusters breaking out here, at least until a vaccine is developed or other countries similarly arrive at elimination.
No worries! I probably should have mentioned it in the comment for context. Specifically, I live in New Brusnwick, which is one of the more rural areas in the country and generally a bit poorer than other provinces.
First thing is that the US-Canada border right now is already quite heavily restricted. Our economies are very tightly intertwined so while we can limit travel for personal reasons, limiting commercial activity would be an actual nightmare. We import and export a lot of essential goods to and from each other, and there is a small but not insignificant number of people who live in one country but work in the other. Regardless, any international travel is supposed to be followed by a 14-day isolation period.
Second thing is that the issue is that the doctor actually didn't import the case from the USA, he traveled to a neighbouring province, Quebec. Each province has some level of political independence, so the COVID situation differs between them and the premier of my province has actually enabled checks at provincial border crossings. People are being turned away on the roads if they are crossing into the province for "nonessential" reasons and being advised that they must isolate for 14 days if they are coming into the province from anywhere, whether it's from another country or another province.
(The legality of turning people away is honestly kind of... touchy, but that's a whole other discussion.)
Unfortunately, the superspreader doctor lied to officials, his colleagues, and his patients at... basically every step in the process. The hospital he worked had had to shut down their emergency room for a day to deep clean it! And obviously the enforcement on the isolation on his return was not effective or not enough of a deterrent to get him to self-isolate.
NZ is for sure in a better position in that NZ most likely has more power to enforce restrictions politically, geographically, and practically (a more tightly managed isolation period would probably have caught Dr. Dumbass sooner). Lower risk isn't zero risk, though, so I still wouldn't 100% dismiss it as a possibility that some goofus who's supposed to be isolating sneaks out even if it's against the law and against all common decency.
For sure still congratulations and good job! Just be emotionally prepared for the possibility of having to re-tighten some restrictions here and there.