Coronavirus - New Zealand
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Bit of a brain dump here.......
Way too much thinking and shouting with an anti-govt slant isn't going to achieve what we want here.
It has been quite obvious that sitting govts get too caught up in the woods to see the trees for a while and that slows down change. Govts by nature (no matter their ideology) get caught in the web of bureaucracy that is the public service. They aren't blameless themselves as they are risk averse (sometimes that is a good thing) and there is a big element of face saving.
Every opposition party has the luxury of thinking out loud but when in power find that change is not a agile as their ideas. This, IMO, creates a culture of fixing onto an idea and seeing it through no matter the consequences. I'm currently working in the public service and this part does my head in. They spend so long ensuring that all bases and arses are covered that by the time they get onto the doing the original aim is partly redundant. They don't (or can't) work like agile businesses where you strike while the iron is hot and be prepared for quick assessments along the way, open to the possibility of ditching the work half way through if it is no longer relevant.
As we are witnessing, shouting at them is counter-productive. A week after the protests in Welly changed from the feral looneys running the show to a more general protest they are still fixated on the looney element and not listening to the others because of that. In other words the path they had decided on is now fixed and they are digging in.
This is a case of if you really want them to change tack you have to speak up as the 'man in the street'. Contact the media and in a sane way ask them to ask the hard questions clearly and demand a clear answer.
If one of the morning TV shows that regularly get to interview the PM asked her straight to justify the current situation and point to overseas experience with omicron as examples that belie the worst case modellings maybe that will sink in or at least influence public thinking?
I think you are right in saying there is a fixation of keeping us safe from the virus but the balance is getting out of whack and they are blinkered. I also think that (apart from the handling of returnees and a few other individual circumstances) they have generally done a good job of steering us through a pandemic that was actually live threatening. They are just slow to change that mindset in part because they have had people telling them they are wrong the whole time. Boy who cried wolf stuff and they have to stop and think before arrogance rules.
I'm not sure that I am fully on board with complete removal of all management of the virus spread. I do think that it holds some danger to at risk people. That management could be MoH advice (like wearing masks on public transport) rather than rules though. Maybe some temporary changes to labour laws around sick leave (with associated business support).
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Wow...
The neurologist said in her letter she had a “concern that reaction to second vaccine will again impact on neurological function”.
However, a letter was sent back declining the exemption. That letter, seen by Stuff, stated: “I am not satisfied, based on the evidence or other information provided, that you meet the specified Covid-19 vaccination exemption criteria.”
It suggested Sophie “consult” with a health professional about the best vaccination option, which could include having the Pfizer vaccine with appropriate supervision, or the use of an alternate vaccine. -
@taniwharugby yea this is one of the completely indefensible parts of the vaccine rollout. In there bid stop as many loopholes around getting it, they have forced people to either not get it and face whatever consequences around employment or whatever. Or Risk their health.
The arrogance when Bloomfield stated only 100 odd people in NZ were eligible for an expemtion was pretty disgusting.
Have seen some shocking effects in the odd person and the GP's were powerless to help them.
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loooool
look at this fucking trash
Professional activist doesn't like this protest because "far right".
This is my absolute favourite bit
"If acting on my individual freedom means that I put another’s health at risk, is it worth taking that action? I say no.
That is why I have been voluntarily self-isolating, or close to it, for the past few months. If my world shrinking means another person lives, then it is worth it. If my inconvenience means our frontline workers can safely return home each night to their families, then it is worth it."
How about you continue to stay home then and let everyone else do their thing. This is the last dying gasps of people desperate for this to be the great panic of 2020, because you get to show how much you care.
Detached from reality
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@taniwharugby said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:
Wow...
The neurologist said in her letter she had a “concern that reaction to second vaccine will again impact on neurological function”.
However, a letter was sent back declining the exemption. That letter, seen by Stuff, stated: “I am not satisfied, based on the evidence or other information provided, that you meet the specified Covid-19 vaccination exemption criteria.”
It suggested Sophie “consult” with a health professional about the best vaccination option, which could include having the Pfizer vaccine with appropriate supervision, or the use of an alternate vaccine.Another great example of the ministeries over-applying the rules put to them to administer. God,there must be some fuckwits in these places. I've ranted plenty about MBIE being the same. Applying the rules in such a draconian way.
When challenged with legal action though, they back down. It's the jobsworths at the coalface and their middle managers that are the problem. -
@mariner4life She looks normal to me.....
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@mariner4life said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:
This is my absolute favourite bit
"If acting on my individual freedom means that I put another’s health at risk, is it worth taking that action? I say no.
That is why I have been voluntarily self-isolating, or close to it, for the past few months. If my world shrinking means another person lives, then it is worth it. If my inconvenience means our frontline workers can safely return home each night to their families, then it is worth it."If only a lot of other people thought the same way she did and took action they thought appropriate as opposed to telling the rest of us what to do.
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It would appear that there are few RATs around because.... the government failed to order enough of them. So while omicron ran through Australia in December, and they scrambled for RATs, what the fuck were we doing? Seizure of RATs by Bloomfield only attempts to hide the fact they didn't act. Jesus wept, who will shine a light on all this incompetence? And will the people even bloody care? Meanwhile stories of mass self isolations at work and schools abound. What a shower this is
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@antipodean l older now. But I still want to enjoy life. We had the flu before that killed people. I much prefer those times. I hàte this locked down mask wearing hard to move between countries times. We seem to have moved from one extreme though (sick at work) to the other one. Surely there's a more in between way. Based on persuasion rather than compulsion and people being fired etc
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@mariner4life said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:
loooool
look at this fucking trash
Professional activist doesn't like this protest because "far right".
This is my absolute favourite bit
"If acting on my individual freedom means that I put another’s health at risk, is it worth taking that action? I say no.
That is why I have been voluntarily self-isolating, or close to it, for the past few months. If my world shrinking means another person lives, then it is worth it. If my inconvenience means our frontline workers can safely return home each night to their families, then it is worth it."
How about you continue to stay home then and let everyone else do their thing. This is the last dying gasps of people desperate for this to be the great panic of 2020, because you get to show how much you care.
Detached from reality
A friend of the family is unvaxxed and might even be at that protest (I doubt it as she is is a single mother).
She is (was) a stock truck driver, just one of the thousands of people going about their business making sure that food ends up on people's tables.
As I understand it, she was fired by her work (or at least put on leave) as she couldn't access 'public' places like saleyards that were covered by the vaccine mandate.
That's what i don't get about this - celebrating personal choice because you can self-isolate and not getting that others simply can't. This lady is getting pushed towards the poor house because she doesn't want to get a vaccine. I disagree with her stance, but from her perspective, she barely interacts with people, almost never inside, and is prepared to take her chances.
I reckon that's a bit dumb, but I don't see why she needed to lose her job.
And her workplace didn't want to let her go (she shows up, she's trustworthy, doesn't do drugs etc), but couldn't keep her because of the rules imposed upon them.
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@gt12 said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:
celebrating personal choice because you can self-isolate and not getting that others simply can't
this, more than anything, has fucked me off about the "do more!!" crowd over the past year or so. The ones who want governments to lock down more often. Who want more regulations. Far more often than not, it's because the regulations don't affect them
They can work on full salary from home. They don't want to go out. They don't have family living somewhere else.
Anyone in a different boat? fuck them. They should care more.
It's so very fucking easy to put a social media post about how you care so much more than others when there is very little real personal cost to your stance.
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@mariner4life or haven't been fucked up by the vaccine due to a vaccine reaction. As some are. Or maybe even for irrational reasons just fear having a vaccine
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@taniwharugby said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:
Wow...
The neurologist said in her letter she had a “concern that reaction to second vaccine will again impact on neurological function”.
However, a letter was sent back declining the exemption. That letter, seen by Stuff, stated: “I am not satisfied, based on the evidence or other information provided, that you meet the specified Covid-19 vaccination exemption criteria.”
It suggested Sophie “consult” with a health professional about the best vaccination option, which could include having the Pfizer vaccine with appropriate supervision, or the use of an alternate vaccine.How is this not the very fucking thing that an exemption system was created for?
Unbelievable
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@crucial said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:
Bit of a brain dump here.......
This is a case of if you really want them to change tack you have to speak up as the 'man in the street'. Contact the media and in a sane way ask them to ask the hard questions clearly and demand a clear answer.
If one of the morning TV shows that regularly get to interview the PM asked her straight to justify the current situation and point to overseas experience with omicron as examples that belie the worst case modellings maybe that will sink in or at least influence public thinking?
History suggests that she wouldn't answer directly then would stop coming onto the show. She's gambling that the media networks will calculate that there is a bigger audience, and therefore advertising revenue, to be gained in having the everywoman PM on the show than not, so she can get away with the kind of brinksmanship that says soft-pedal or lose access. So far her gamble has been a good one. She is a world class media tactician.
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@mariner4life She's literally a saint. Her virtue is far beyond anything we might ever aspire to, and I'm a better person just for having read her wise words.
#inspiredandhumbled
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@antipodean said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:
@gt12 mandates at our levels of vaccination and in the face of Omicron are ridiculous and have no basis in logic.
This week I've experienced it for myself. My niece had a friend over to my bro's last week. The friend was told by an acquaintance on Saturday that she needed to have a test; she did and came back positive. In the meantime he and his wife had been out with us (dinner, so masks not on) and to work. They let us know and got tested. We were told not to because we aren't close contacts and were asymptomatic. Anyway now we're all clear, but guess how many people were self-isolating because of a single contact.
12
I can only imagine how that plays out when there are younger kids involved, or large families, or crowded homes. This can't possibly work.