New Zealand hit zero active cases today, so it appears to be entirely Covid-19 virus free. I visited NZ in January, and very much wish I were there now. (I’d be there now if they’d take me without a quarantine.) Good for the Kiwis!
Note that New Zealand will occasionally have a few imported cases, as they wish to restart tourism. Fortunately, tourists from East Asia and Australia don’t pose much risk. And there is great value in ordinary Kiwis being able to go about their lives without fear of infection.
I am currently in a fairly large hotel in Tucson. The hotel has closed the restaurant and swimming pool. If you want maid service you need to request it. (I don’t.) The place is almost empty—I feel like I’m in one of those post-apocalypse films. Yes, Tucson is normally quiet in June, but nowhere near this quiet. It’s my first time out of Orange County since January, and this trip is making me more pessimistic about the US economy going forward. AZ has “reopened”, but life here is far from normal. As I keep saying, it’s not about “lockdowns”.
(BTW, I don’t need maid service, never did. Indeed the whole idea seems pointless to me. I’d rather hotels dispense with maid service for people staying a week or less; it would make rooms cheaper.)
They say there are fewer cases in summer because people go outdoors. In Arizona, people go indoors in the summer:
New Zealand has about 5 million people. Up next is Taiwan (24 million) which has only 6 active cases, and may soon have zero.
Lots of European countries are sharply reducing their active caseload.
Then there’s the US. What the #@&% is the plan? Are we going for herd immunity? Or a low active caseload as in Germany? Or something else?
We seem to be just muddling along, with no plan at all.
A big depression or a couple hundred thousand deaths?
