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New Zealand leader Ardern offers virus know-how to Joe Biden

25 Comments
By NICK PERRY

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25 Comments
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NZ is more like Hawaii than the rest or the US when it comes to containing the virus. And doesn't have the same mandated freedoms that US law requires. Still, good advice can come from anywhere.

I hope Biden listens to Canada. They are te most like the US with cities and country people behaving about the same.

The real solution from Biden will be economic aid for very low income people in the US and vaccines provided based on need, not wealth. The GOP will get in the way of this necessary solution, I fear.

If people want to save money, keeping low income people employed through these times will be much better than govt welfare spending after they are all fired, broke and living in shelters or on the street.

-5 ( +8 / -13 )

"And doesn't have the same mandated freedoms that US law requires"

Can you please be more specific about what this sentence means? You seem to be suggesting that New Zealanders have limited freedom which is patently untrue. This uninformed blanket statement amounts to US propaganda, not a comment.

11 ( +17 / -6 )

'mandated freedoms that US law requires' lol that made me laugh. In the US you can't even crack open a beer on the street without getting arrested plus you have all those petty fines that vary from county to county. The 'American freedom' is an nothing but a lie.

12 ( +18 / -6 )

And doesn't have the same mandated freedoms that US law requires

I'm trying to work out what "mandated freedoms" I have been missing out on all these years.

Functional democracy - check.

Freedom of speech - check

Guaranteed human rights. - check

Low crime - check

1st equal for least corruption in the world - check.

Functional low cost universal healthcare system - check

Heavily subsidised pharmaceuticals - Check

Clear, automated taxation system - check

Functional and fair policing system - check.

Free universal education - check

etc etc etc

By the looks, NZ seems to be ahead of the US on most, if not all of points above.

Oh, and because we co-operated and had significant leadership at the beginning of Covid, no one I know has died, or even tested positive.

12 ( +17 / -5 )

I'm trying to work out what "mandated freedoms" I have been missing out on all these years.

Many sheeple Americans have believed without question the propaganda they were fed that America is the greatest country that has ever existed. The only metrics by which that’s true are size of economy and size of military.

13 ( +19 / -6 )

Good to see the President elect is much more personable and friendly to long time allies. This bodes well for the next 4 years. NZ have done exceptionally well dealing with this pandemic and tho their model may not suit the US, anything is possible.

doesn't have the same mandated freedoms that US law requires.

You are correct. NZ is far above what the "US law requires" for freedoms, mandated or otherwise. The US can aspire to gain all the same freedoms NZ has but it will take both republican and democrats working together to attain that. Such a prospect remains remote for now.

A very good, very positive phone call and a great reboot on relations between to freedom loving nations.

10 ( +15 / -5 )

Before putting the NZ PM up for sainthood maybe we should consider a few facts.

in a country with about 5 000 000 people and a large surface, biggest city only 600.000 , it is a lot easier to prevent infections as distancing is a part of normal daily life. Same can be said for Finland.

I don’t take away from their achievements I just want to relevante things.

5 ( +11 / -6 )

Robert, fair to say your point is relevant, apart from the biggest city which has around a million more than the number you gave.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

robert maes

Before putting the NZ PM up for sainthood maybe we should consider a few facts.

in a country with about 5 000 000 people and a large surface, biggest city only 600.000 , it is a lot easier to prevent infections as distancing is a part of normal daily life. Same can be said for Finland.

Really? Do you have any evidence for that bold assertion? Because if you look at the data, it doesn't add up. Check out this chart and show me where you can draw a correlation:

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/covid-19-death-rate-vs-population-density

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Many sheeple Americans have believed without question the propaganda they were fed that America is the greatest country that has ever existed. The only metrics by which that’s true are size of economy and size of military.

Military and economy aren't metrics that concern being the greatest country on Earth. I'm fairly certain the US is NOT the greatest country by almost any measure.

Controlling the spread of a virus begins by controlling initial infections.

My goal in this thread was to say that a country with under 20 real ports of entry (sea and air) cannot be compared to a country with thousands - yes - thousands of entry points, even the official port count of 384 is a huge difference to what NZ has, though the vast majority are over land. Some cities are split with Canada and the US. People there are on their honor to check in with the port should they cross the border.

In 2019, NZ had only 3.9M foreign visitors.

In 2019, the US had 342M foreign visitors, about 87x more.

In 2019, Hawaii had 10.4M visitors ... which is much more like NZ, which was the primary point of my first post above.

All of that isn't to say that NZ doesn't have some ideas about controlling the spread of COVID, just that scaling up doesn't usually work when it is almost 100x the problem.

That's like saying the US knows all the solutions to internal Indian or Chinese issues. Only a fool would say that. Both those countries have huge issues just due to the number of humans living in their borders.

I hope nobody was offended or insulted. Wouldn't want to be arrested for any ill-will.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

NZ is hardly the centre of anything, making it relatively easy to lock down and contain the virus.

Also the target by the releaser of said virus was not NZ

-2 ( +7 / -9 )

NZ is hardly the centre of anything

just the attention of those who can’t stand that a small nation at the bottom of the world can be an example to some others that think they are the center of everything.

4 ( +11 / -7 )

She probably told Joe. "Well first you need a tiny country of 5 million people at the end of the world surrounded by a giant moat. Then, no public transport to speak of and an aversion to taking trains for travel. NZ was as much a beneficiary of its own isolation as anything else.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

 Then, no public transport to speak of and an aversion to taking trains for travel. NZ was as much a beneficiary of its own isolation as anything else.

Perhaps when Covid allows you might want to visit NZ.  I think you may be in for a few surprises given you comments.  It even has electricity.

9 ( +11 / -2 )

Not sure the "lessons" of a tiny isolated island nation are going to be that relevant to a huge country like the US.  Especially now the virus is omnipresent.

Still, I guess showing love to each other is a good thing.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

JaymannToday  08:48 am JST

She probably told Joe. "Well first you need a tiny country of 5 million people at the end of the world surrounded by a giant moat. Then, no public transport to speak of and an aversion to taking trains for travel. NZ was as much a beneficiary of its own isolation as anything else.

Nope. She probably told Joe that in the face of an unfolding global pandemic, a country (regardless of size) needs a strong cross party leadership willing to make bold decisions, clear communication, and a population willing to make personal sacrifices (wear masks, stay at home) for the greater good of the whole.

This is diametrically opposed to the actions we have seen take place in the US, and explains the situation that it now finds itself in.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Advice from NZ to beat the virus:

step 1 - be an island with a small population isolated from most of the world.

step 2 - close borders.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

The most significant difference could be the people in New Zealand are mostly New Zealanders while in America it's mostly Americans.

Another one could be the leaders of the two countries.

In America the so called leader is Trump, whereas in New Zealand the leader is not Trump.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

I hope Biden listens to Canada. They are te most like the US with cities and country people behaving about the same.

I didn't know it is that bad in Canada

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Thats very kind of her. American needs all advice and support from other world leaders.

America is back, right?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

New Zealand has the best testing regime in the world, so shedding some light on that would be helpful to the US. Also, their contact tracing experience where it wasn't so effective to start but steadily got better may be useful.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Arden: Thank god I'm speaking to an adult.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Regardless of demographic and geographic differences, NZ has done a great job and I commend them.

I am sure that the PM has good advice to give. The issue is getting any of Trump’s cultist evidence-proof Bass to listen to it.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Call our friendly NZ leader right now for sound advice on beating Covid-19 as well as teeth-whitening products at a special price. Limited time only.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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