New Zealand removes most remaining COVID rules as cases wane

@painkiller: The social and economic costs of trying to maintain a zero covid policy once Omicron has proved to considerably more transmissible and far less lethal (not trying to underscore how serious it still is) would have been a fools errand. You know that, but deliberately wish to provoke answers such as mine. In your case, I take 'painkiller' to mean suicide.

I trust Yale @painkiller - to answer your question.

https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/5-things-to-know-omicron

Updated last week.

@painkiller

China will abandon zero Covid once Xi gets elected for life. Since when did they care about their own citizens?

You know who doesn’t complain about economic recession?

Dead people.

Fortunately, NZ had very few of those due to Covid.

I think most logical people can grasp this concept.

Just shows once again that all of the nonsense was made up

Completely mistaken, this shows that the measures enacted to reduce the risk from the infection (and the appearance of milder but more easeily transmitted variants) have shifted the focus from preventing infections towards preventing complications and death. Which was the purpose from the moment it became clear there is no realistic way to eradicate the virus.

Is not that governments can't maintain the measures, it is that they have become less effective and specially less necessary now that vaccines, treatments and milder infections reduce the cost to health services.

Like China's zero covid policy, which has kept China's infection rates the lowest in the world according to statistics

Seeing how other countries have lower death rates than China, this is not something to recognize, if the cost of having less infections is to let more of the patients die (and specially let more uninfected people die because of lack of access to health services) that makes it a counterproductive policy. Much more if you count the degradation of human rights and the destruction of local livehoods that come with it. There is a reason why no international expert recommends the zero covid policy since delta and omicron became prevalent. It simply have unjustifiable costs for benefits that can be obtained without it.

Kaerimashita

Just shows once again that all of the nonsense was made up.

Over a million covid deaths in the US would beg to differ.

Covid is still around and likely to have spikes now and then. But governments can no longer retain the pretence of all the "preventative measures" somehow saving people's lives....

Quite the opposite. Preventative measures like vaccines and better treatments have been very successful. As have masks indoors and on public transport.

The numbers of new cases in NZ is very low that these rules do not need to be in place. But prudent people will still wear masks in crowded indoor venues.

Also, if a new variant emerges that causes a spike in hospitalisations, expect preventative measures to be put in place again.

Seeing how other countries have lower death rates than China, 

Totally false, as proven by actual sources and facts.

Note that the sources Painkiller quotes (and blindly trusts) are from the CCP, and these are what he is calling "facts".

Just saying something is not true does not make it true

You could prove this is not true by bringing again the same sources but you have stopped doing it because it was very easy to follow the link and see they completely contradict you. The fact you refrain from using any source is what helps proving this is not false.

Read again what you have quoted, China do not have the lowest death rates as you falsely claim.

In the Western part of the world at least, Antarctica is not considered a country.

Making up nonsense to distract from your mistaken statements do not make them less so.

Yes I could, and I have

No, not even once, no international expert says the zero covid policy is of value in 2022, once again the fact that you could not do it here again proves you know this.

You already forgot what you are arguing about?

The whole point is that nobody consider the Chinese policy adequate, not a single international expert, so the only scientific evidence that would be pertinent is the one that would prove this is the case, since there is none and you have accepted it, that means the argument holds true, the policy is not being recommended by any international expert as you mistakenly said.

Trying to deflect the fact that the policy causes more deaths than in other countries as if the number of infections were more important is a clear attempt of disinformation. If a country have less deaths/hospitalizations that means it is doing better, even more so when it does not have to take out human rights to do it. Less costs, more benefits, that is better.

Totally false, as proven by actual sources and facts.

The only sources you have presented say the opposite, and that is even before equalizing the reports to hide all deaths where the patient had any other comorbidity as China does, using those sources China has close to two dozen other countries with lower death rates.

False again. Just because the WHO keeps saying zero covid is not sustainable does not mean it is not sustainable.

You could demonstrate it is false by providing international experts recommending the zero covid policy, but you have not, because there are none. This means it is not false, just that you don't want to recognize it is true, which is obviously something completely different.

The own goverment of China is recognizing it is not sustainable, they are progressively changing their definitions to allow more cases, making the zero covid policy anything but zero.

Is there a verified scientific study concluding that this? No.

Concluding what? that the Chinese policy is being recommended by experts? no, that is the point, it is not.

About time this was done. The government really enjoyed having a high level of control over its citizens, and have only reluctantly let it go.

The only sources you have presented say the opposite, and that is even before equalizing the reports to hide all deaths where the patient had any other comorbidity as China does, using those sources China has close to two dozen other countries with lower death rates.

Just saying something is not true does not make it true. You have provided ZERO sources to dispute the multiple sources showing the fact China has the lowest infection rates; although I must admit you did provide a source showing Antarctica having zero cases.

In the Western part of the world at least, Antarctica is not considered a country.

You could demonstrate it is false by providing international experts recommending the zero covid policy, but you have not, because there are none.

Yes I could, and I have. I can also demonstrate it is true by the fact that the zero policy is still being used with success. Of course, anyone can just say No it isn't--but again, just saying something is not true does not make it true.

Concluding what? that the Chinese policy is being recommended by experts? no, that is the point, it is not.

You already forgot what you are arguing about?

Show a source that concludes zero covid strategy does not result in the lowering of Covid infections.

Of course you can't--because there is none. All we get is your personal bias and mere opinion.

Just shows once again that all of the nonsense was made up. Covid is still around and likely to have spikes now and then. But governments can no longer retain the pretence of all the "preventative measures" somehow saving people's lives....

Seeing how other countries have lower death rates than China, 

Totally false, as proven by actual sources and facts.

There is a reason why no international expert recommends the zero covid policy since delta and omicron became prevalent. It simply have unjustifiable costs for benefits that can be obtained without it.

False again. Just because the WHO keeps saying zero covid is not sustainable does not mean it is not sustainable.

Is there a verified scientific study concluding that this? No.

Since an Omicron wave took hold, that number has risen to nearly 2,000. But that still remains low when compared with the death rates in many other countries.

And that number also is high when compared with the death rates of many other countries.

What saved New Zealand though was their initial zero covid policy. They just should have stayed with it, and formulated a better economic plan.

letsberealisticToday  04:41 pm JST

Fact check:

NZ did not go into recession and it has been one of the most resilient economies in the past 3 years.,

New Zealand plunges into recession as economy shrinks record 12%

https://news.yahoo.com/zealand-economy-shrinks-record-12-233730478.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

theResidentToday  04:18 pm JST

@painkiller: The social and economic costs of trying to maintain a zero covid policy once Omicron has proved to considerably more transmissible and far less lethal (not trying to underscore how serious it still is) would have been a fools errand. You know that, but deliberately wish to provoke answers such as mine. In your case, I take 'painkiller' to mean suicide.

Proved in what way?

NZ didn't have a strong enough economy and so it chose to sacrifice a certain number of citizens.

China, on the other hand, is the only country that has shown positive economic growth throughout the Covid crisis.

NZ went into a recession.

So, your argument is entirely true for New Zealand.

China though, has outlasted everyone trying to tell them that their successful program is unsustainable.

New Zealand removes most remaining COVID rules as cases wane

This seems to allude to the notion that Covid rules work. As in rules that are considered by medical professionals to reduce infections.

Like China's zero covid policy, which has kept China's infection rates the lowest in the world according to statistics, while remembering Antarctica is not a country.

New Zealand enjoyed initial success in fighting the pandemic, managing to eliminate the virus entirely after closing its borders and carefully contact-tracing cases. But its approach changed as more transmissible variants proved impossible to stamp out.

Remember-NZ's initial success was zero covid.

But then NZ gave up too soon. And then the original, and subsequent variants--all Covid---ran rampant and New Zealand had one of the highest rates in the world similar to what Japan just went through.