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Public health experts are slamming the debacle at the border:
Auckland University Professor of Medicine Des Gorman rated the Government’s response as “somewhere between two and three” out of 10.
“I’ve seen health systems manage medical emergencies worse than this but it takes some doing,” Gorman told Hosking. “It’s like we’re living in a parallel universe.”
He was particularly astounded that only a third of border workers had been tested up until this week. “I thought someone was pulling my leg.”
The Government tells us we should listen to the scientists, well those scientists are saying they are sub-optimal in their performance. A less charitable person would say they are tits at their job.
63% of border/MIQ staff NOT being tested is simply unforgivable. You cannot in any reasonable sense say you have taken all practical or reasonable precautions. Period.
Sir David Skegg, another expert, is similarly scathing:
He says:
- The lack of testing was “extraordinary”
- Was shocked to hear the Director-General of Health say aiming to test every two or three weeks as even that would be inadequate but turns out most have never been tested.
- There was a report recommending weekly testing and it was not implemented.
Both Chris Hipkins and Ashley Bloomfield are justifying their failure by saying that compulsory testing would be either “heavy handed” or “a “big lever to pull”.
Moving to mandatory testing of staff at the border was a relatively heavy handed thing for a government to do, Hipkins said.
I would have thought it’s rather fundamental isn’t it? Pull the lever!
“In case of emergency – pull lever” Chippy didn’t pull the lever.
As David Farrar points out a lockdown of a third of the population IS heavy-handed while compulsory testing of staff at the border is NOT.
The Government wanted to fight this election on their response to the Chinese plague, and now we know that their response was worse than hopeless.
They seem to be desperately trying to hold the election on September 19. If cock ups like this keep coming to light they’ll have to pivot to another plan.
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