New Lockdown

[Maximus]

the acid test is here now for Dr Bloomfield et al ..during Level 4 we were constantly told about how it bought them time to get PPE and a world-leading contact tracing system/app etc in place. We were told community transmission would almost certainly return/ So here we are. If we have to go to Level 3 or 4 nationally, Jacinda's goose is cooked.

The fact that the police were still deciding this afternoon exactly where to put their roadblocks is proof that they hadnt done much planning in the 2 months we were Covid free. 

 I cannot believe the army hasn't been mobilised to tackle Covid response ...what the hell do we pay them to do in times of national crisis?

MM

[Globederby19]

43 minutes ago, curious said:

Show me the document then. PCR tests are very accurate and specific for Covid albeit that false negatives and positives can occur.

https://www.finddx.org/covid-19/sarscov2-eval-molecular/molecular-eval-results/

I will try to get my son in Melbourne to send it to me. I dont live there mate. You obviously sound fairly knowledgable on this particular point. Like I said I'm only the messenger, but trust what my son has relayed to me as fairly accurate.

[Globederby19]

50 minutes ago, mardigras said:

I guess the whole world and all governments have fallen for this hoax. But what are any of the governments gaining from perpetuating the hoax?

The million dollar question. ?. 

[mardigras]

8 hours ago, Globederby19 said:

The million dollar question. ?. 

It's the reason the hoax theory fails. Since governments are losing from the deal. You simply can't get that many people from that many different countries to subscribe to something in positions of government and health. Somewhere it would have been exposed. Yet that simply has not happened.

[Freda]

12 minutes ago, mardigras said:

It's the reason the hoax theory fails. Since governments are losing from the deal. You simply can't get that many people from that many different countries to subscribe to something in positions of government and health. Somewhere it would have been exposed. Yet that simply has not happened.

Yeah..have to agree.  The number of people trying to dine out on conspiracy notions would astound you.  Whether or not one is a Jacinda fan [ and I'm not ], to claim that it is all a gigantic plot for god-knows-what is just crazy.

[Hesi]

31 minutes ago, Freda said:

Yeah..have to agree.  The number of people trying to dine out on conspiracy notions would astound you.  Whether or not one is a Jacinda fan [ and I'm not ], to claim that it is all a gigantic plot for god-knows-what is just crazy.

You can say that again, but then there are people that still believe the Earth is flat.

 

[Turny]

When you have no policies and are tracking bad anything will do I guess, at least you get on page 1even if it costs 

Stupid comments regardless of how you rate JA

Nats a shoe in for the silver medal

[Hesi]

Is the lack of big item policy by all parties, because the Reserve Bank has advised them that the cupboard is too bare to go promising anymore big spends, other than what is already on the table

[Maximus]

can anyone answer: why are masks not free?

[Hesi]

I suspect if they are made mandatory, then they will be made free

[curious]

11 hours ago, Globederby19 said:

The million dollar question. ?. 

How many billions has NZ spent on this hoax? And the reserve bank is talking negative interest rates to stimulate the economy. Imagine that, you get paid to borrow money!

[Hesi]

Andrew Geddis: Parliament’s dissolution has been delayed. What about the election?

 

Andrew Geddis | Contributing writer
Opinion Aug 12

Parliament is scheduled to be dissolved today for an election on September 19. University of Otago law professor Andrew Geddis runs through how and under what circumstances the election will happen – or be delayed.

This post has been updated following the prime minister’s announcement that the dissolution of parliament will be deferred.

No matter how, Covid-19 is now back in the community. How widespread, and with what consequences, we don’t yet know. Which hasn’t stopped some folk already starting to questionwhether September’s election can be held as planned. After all, physical election campaigning has been put on ice until it becomes clear how bad the situation is. And the start of advance voting is now only 24 days away.

What the hell is going to happen?

Fortunately, back in mid-March I turned my mind to just that question. As I noted then, until parliament is dissolved and a writ – official instructions – for the election is issued, the decision on when to hold it lies entirely with the prime minister through her advice to the governor general. This morning, she announced that parliament (which was due to be dissolved at 11 am today) will continue until at least Monday. I assume this means that the writ for the election (which was due to be issued on August 16) also now will be delayed.

So, that permits a bit of a breather before finally committing to the September 19 date. But it can’t last for too long. The Electoral Act requries that candidate nominations must be received by at least 20 days before the election day, and the Electoral Commission actually proposed August 21 as the nomination cut-off deadline. That is because overseas voting starts as early as September 2, so time needs to be left for preparing ballot papers. To say nothing of the Electoral Commission needing to know when it will need to have polling places ready with people to operate them.

So, in reality a decision is going to have to be made by pretty early next week whether September 19 is to remain our election day. And should that decision be to dissolve parliament and issue the election writ as planned, the election timetable then goes from being a matter of political discretion to one of statutory requirement. Once the governor general issues the election writ, the September 19 election date gets locked in. What, however, if that were to happen and the worst comes to be with the virus spreading widely, necessitating a lengthy stay at level 3 (or, God forbid, level four)? How can we vote under such conditions?

 

Well, amendments to the Electoral Act that came into force earlier this year address just such a possibility. These provisions permit the chief electoral officer – not the prime minister or other political figure –  to stop voting at polling stations due to “an unforeseen or unavoidable disruption”, which includes the issuing of an epidemic notice.

Voting can be put on hold for an initial period of three days, with this suspension able to be successively extended for a week at a time following consultation with the prime minister and the leader of the opposition. And there’s no limit to just how long such a suspension can last; the normal election timetable is suspended while it is in place.

So, if it then transpires that Covid-19 makes it just too dangerous to have people going to the polling place on that day, the election can be put off until it is safe. And the Electoral Act now also allows the chief electoral officer to implement “alternative voting processes”, such allowing everyone to upload their ballot electronically, as can be done for overseas voters. Alternatively, mobile voting booths could be permitted to bring the vote to people who are self-isolating, rather than require them to visit school halls or supermarkets.

In short, the mechanics of voting can cope with an extended Covid-19 outbreak. Whether the politics of the election – and in particular, the perceived legitimacy of a vote held in the midst of elevated restrictions – can do so is another question. One that lies outside my lane – so I’ll leave it to social media to settle.

[Hesi]

So what's it going to be after midnight Friday.  We all know the disdain accorded to people who are wise after the event

Auckland, level ?, for how long?   Level 3 another week

Rest of the country, level?, how long?   Level 2 another week

Election date(decision due on Mon)  No change, review in another week

[Maximus]

If there are no new clusters identified tomorrow, I think status quo remains for 7 days. One thing I dont 'get' is why the new Covid ads do not emphasise
hand-washing. It seems to be all about masks at present.

[curious]

11 hours ago, Freda said:

Yeah..have to agree.  The number of people trying to dine out on conspiracy notions would astound you.  Whether or not one is a Jacinda fan [ and I'm not ], to claim that it is all a gigantic plot for god-knows-what is just crazy.

Encourage them to get help Freda.

A recent Princeton University study found that conspiracies are more likely to find a welcome home in the minds of people who are lonely and seeking meaning. The report’s co-author Alin Coman says this can create a vicious cycle where lonely people will share their conspiratorial beliefs, which can drive away family and friends and result in further isolation. Excluded and ignored, the loneliest among us join conspiracy communities where they feel welcome, which in turn further entrenches their beliefs.

In short, people who are left out are more likely to believe conspiracies.

 

[mardigras]

I agree with the idea that shifting in and out of various lockdowns is not the way forward. We should have already worked out how we deal with cases/clusters without the need for some extensive area based stringent measures. We had 3 months of what it would be called in snooker, a shot to nothing. The time when you could take a chance on something that had no risk if it failed. That was lockdown one. That was when locking down would have no impact on the NZ economy, versus not locking down. That period is over.

The time we had during that phase should have been sufficient to establish the pathway for dealing with the arrival of future cases - not the pathway of going into lockdown. It was a free shot. And in my view, they cocked up. They didn't cock up from getting more cases, they cocked up by not knowing how to deal with them without affecting a very high percentage of NZ. If a large part of NZ goes in and out of level 3 when a case arises, that is not a good scenario.

Edited August 14, 2020 by mardigras

[Hesi]

I think they will be aware of the need to not keep going into lock down, but it is a huge learning curve, which they are gathering knowledge on all the time, and a huge undertaking to implement.

Just think, if they could garner all the knowledge, put forward on social media, where would we all be.........dead probably

Over the years, the best snooker players, the ones that rise to the top, always play with safety as the priority, even Hurricane Higgins

[Maximus]

Yes there are some truly nutty conspiracy theories and theorists. But just because you suspect a conspiracy was the cause of something does not make you a nutter (though you may be a nutter, anyway). It is fashionable these days to stigmatise someone because they are a 'conspiracy theorist'.

eg: I have absolutely no doubt that JFK was assassinated as the result of a conspiracy to kill him, and that Lee Harvey Oswald was exactly what he said he was - 'a patsy' (fall guy).  JFK's head wounds included a large exit wound about the size of a orange, in the occipital-parietal area of the right side of his skull, ie right rear. That could not have come from a lone assassin shooting from behind.

[mardigras]

5 minutes ago, Hesi said:

I think they will be aware of the need to not keep going into lock down, but it is a huge learning curve, which they are gathering knowledge on all the time, and a huge undertaking to implement.

Just think, if they could garner all the knowledge, put forward on social media, where would we all be.........dead probably

Over the years, the best snooker players, the ones that rise to the top, always play with safety as the priority, even Hurricane Higgins

Stop it Jacinda!

[Hesi]

What about the flat earth believers, nutters

I see Brownlee has recanted on the conspiracy stuff.  Some of those Nats must be getting sick of the taste of dead rats

[Hesi]

2 minutes ago, mardigras said:

Stop it Jacinda!

Did Barry give you his password while he is away

[Globederby19]

3 minutes ago, Maximus said:

included a large exit wound about the size of a orange,

Dum Dum bullet. Probably mercury dropped into a small drilled hole in the lead bullet and soldered over. Makes a bigger chance of a kill, but messier.

 

[Maximus]

16 minutes ago, mardigras said:

I agree with the idea that shifting in and out of various lockdowns is not the way forward. We should have already worked out how we deal with cases/clusters without the need for some extensive area based stringent measures. We had 3 months of what it would be called in snooker, a shot to nothing. The time when you could take a chance on something that had no risk if it failed. That was lockdown one. That was when locking down would have no impact on the NZ economy, versus not locking down. That period is over.

The time we had during that phase should have been sufficient to establish the pathway for dealing with the arrival of future cases - not the pathway of going into lockdown. It was a free shot. And in my view, they cocked up. They didn't cock up from getting more cases, they cocked up by not knowing how to deal with them without affecting a very high percentage of NZ. If a large part of NZ goes in and out of level 3 when a case arises, that is not a good scenario.

How, for example, did the cops NOT KNOW how many, and where, their roadblocks were going to be, in the event of an Auckland region lockdown? They had nearly 3 months to work it out and were still deciding the afternoon lockdown came into effect! As for NOT TESTING ALL BORDER WORKERS, AS A MATTER OF PRIORITY - UNBELIEVABLY INCOMPETENT. 

[Hesi]

2 minutes ago, Maximus said:

How, for example, did the cops NOT KNOW how many, and where, their roadblocks were going to be, in the event of an Auckland region lockdown? They had nearly 3 months to work it out and were still deciding the afternoon lockdown came into effect! As for NOT TESTING ALL BORDER WORKERS, AS A MATTER OF PRIORITY - UNBELIEVABLY INCOMPETENT. 

You're starting to sound like that fella on the other channel who has an answer for everything.  Just imagine the country being run by the likes of

[Hesi]

3 minutes ago, Globederby19 said:

Dum Dum bullet. Probably mercury dropped into a small drilled hole in the lead bullet and soldered over. Makes a bigger chance of a kill, but messier.

 

Good nomenclature Rees.  Reading social media and the NZ press, you would have to say that there is a lot of dumbness going around