New Zealand sets up mandatory quarantine ‘camps’ for COVID patients

Anyone who values freedom should take note because the Kiwis have a terrifying new response to rising covid case numbers. They are throwing people into quarantine camps.

Fox News ‘The Ingraham Angle‘

Please watch The Ingraham Angle video clip to ensure you have the full background of the facts before reading the rest of this post.

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Pretty terrifying isn’t it? Just imagine being locked up just because you don’t want to take a test. What ever will they do next to take away our freedoms?

Except it’s hardly a new response. These so called quarantine ‘camps’ (some conservative right wing sources call them internment camps) have been around for the last six months. I don’t know why it has taken Fox and The Ingraham Angle so long to discover this story. As for Ardern’s ‘announcement’, it’s actually part of an interview that took place some time after the ‘camps’ were established – if I recall correctly, several weeks, perhaps a month, after the ‘camps’ were first announced. So it’s factually incorrect to describe Jacinda Ardern’s words as an announcement. Perhaps I’m being picky, but I do like to get the facts right.

Taking the story at face value, it would seem that New Zealand residents who refuse a COVID-19 test are being thrown into quarantine camps indefinitely until they submit to a test. It would also appear that in spite of the such draconian measures, infection rates are rising.

It would seem appropriate to seek more information on two important points:

• are people being thrown into quarantine ‘camps’ for refusing a test?
• are coronavirus cases really rising?

Number in ‘camps’

So how many people are in ‘camps’? Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands? The clip doesn’t provide that information. At any time there’s around five or six thousand people in quarantine ‘camps’, but the ‘camps’ or not filled by local residents whether or not they have refused a test, nor whether or not they might be infected with COVID-19. The “detainees” are travellers who have just arrived in New Zealand.

Anyone wishing to travel to Aotearoa New Zealand must pre-book accomodation in one of these ‘camps’ before they purchase a flight to this country. In other words it’s part of a package deal if one wishes to travel to these islands. Every country has measures at the border to reduce the possible harm that travellers might bring into the country. COVID-19 is simply another potential harm added to the list of harms.

Does that sound like “throwing people into quarantine camps” to you? Yes, it’s an inconvenience for anyone wishing to travel here, but it means those living here have complete freedom to do whatever they want, congregate wherever they want in crowds as large as they want – even in stadiums with 50,000 other individuals without being required to wear face masks or to socially distance.

It means that we as residents carry on much as we did before the pandemic and all businesses apart from those in the tourism sector operate as they always have. The pandemic as ensured that international tourism is buggered world wide for the time being irrespective of what restrictions this country imposes at the border.

There’s more than one type of ‘camp’

And let’s clarify what is meant by quarantine ‘camps’. This Foxnews term actually refers to two different types of facilities. Both types of facilities are located within hotels, almost all of which have a 4-star or 5-star rating.

• Managed isolation facilities: these are for travellers to NZ who are well but have a risk of having COVID-19. In other words travellers who have been in or passed through a region where community transmission of the virus exists. At this point in time that means the rest of the world, but it’s likely that regions of Australia, and parts of south and east Asia will be deemed community transmission free before the end of the year or early in the New Year. My hunch is that America will possibly be one of the last places to go covid free.
  
  Tests are carried out on travellers on day three and day twelve of isolation. If both are negative, the traveller is free to leave on day fourteen. If either test is positive, the traveller is transferred to a quarantine facility. A refusal to have a test is, I believe, treated as if a test had been positive.
  
• Quarantine facilities: These are for travellers who have been diagnosed with COVID-19, have COVID-19 symptoms or have been in close contact with someone with suspected, probable or confirmed COVID-19 in the past 14 days.
  
  These facilities have additional medical staff to cater for non-critical COVID-19 cases. Critical cases are transferred to public hospitals. Once the traveller is deemed to be COVID-19 free they can leave. If a traveller refuses to have a test, then they will be required to remain in quarantine for an additional fourteen days and remain symptom free, after which they will be free to leave.

Clearly, if you’re symptom free, the normal time for isolation is 14 days, or 28 days if the traveller refuses testing. Unless you’re a COVID-19 denier or conspiracist, such measures are unlikely to be considered oppressive or unreasonable given the nature of the pandemic. The measures have a sound scientific footing for a community that wishes to enjoy the benefits of freedom as we have historically practised it and be coronavirus free at the same time. How many other places have that level of freedom?

Rising covid case numbers

As for the rising covid case numbers, it’s true that it has increased recently, but none of these are due to community transmitted cases. The Ingraham Angle makes the implication that it is rising within the community. It is not. All the cases involve travellers in managed isolation – they have caught the virus while overseas, on their way here, or less likely while in isolation. The biggest number of cases recently have been in travellers from Russia who are replacement crew for fishing vessels operating from New Zealand. at one stage they were responsible for around 12 cases in a single day – an astronomical number for this country. They will be quarantined until they are Covid free.

The simple truth is that that we in Aotearoa New Zealand are virus free, and enjoy freedoms that most other places, including America, can only dream about for the time being. There is no draconian authoritarian regime restricting our freedom nor throwing the sick or dissidents into camps. The video clip is no more that a selection of half truths cobbled together to tell a whopping lie. A perfect example of Fake News™.

As for why this fake news is created at all, this Daily Blog article seems to cover it

Move over Hollywood

Our (relatively) safe COVID-19 status has seen increased interest in basing international film and TV productions here. As well as Avatar 2 and Power of the Dog already under way, permission has been granted to another five production teams to enter Aotearoa New Zealand and due to start production soon. These include:

• The Lord of the Rings TV Series
• Power Rangers
• Sweet Tooth
• The Greatest Beer Run Ever
• Cowboy Bebop

At a time where our livelihood from overseas visitors has all but dried up, such productions are a lifeline to our economy. The more. the merrier.

• The six productions joining Avatar in getting border exemptions
• What New Zealand’s COVID-19 Curveball Means For Its Booming Hollywood Productions

Auckland to be renamed Orcland

Just Kidding.

But Auckland will be the home of  orcs, hobbits and many more LOTR (Lord of the Rings) races over the coming months, and perhaps years. Amazon Studios has chosen Auckland in Aotearoa New Zealand to be the production location for its multi-billion dollar Television series based on the Lord of the Rings.

The series is anticipated to be the most expensive TV series ever produced and will explore new story lines that precede The Fellowship of the Ring. It will bring thousands of jobs to the local film and entertainment sector. Although this country has been home to a number of major film productions, the small size of the local industry means that making a living in the film and television sector can be somewhat precarious – a boom and bust scenario. If the first year proves successful, it could make the lives of those in the film industry here just a little more secure than it has been.

Pre-production has been under way for a number of months and filming is expected to begin next year. Like all major screen productions it will be eligible for the standard NZ tax breaks available here. That means somewhere around NZ$100 of the hard earned taxes I pay, and every other Kiwi pays will go to Google so that the world can see this country in all its fantastic beauty.

Unless an Internet provider includes a free subscription to Amazon Prime Video (my current provider includes Netflix as part of its Internet package), it’s unlikely that I’ll get to see the series. Which is a shame, as I am a fan of fantasy and sci-fi stories.

As an aside, Kiwis pronounce Auckland and Orcland the same. Does the same apply in your part of the world?

Celtic Illusion

Last night the wife and I went to see a show in the nearby city of Palmerston North.

I missed most of it.

The problem is that being autistic and a migraineur is incompatible with watching modern shows. Bright lights, strobe effects, pyrotechnics and loud noises are not only very unpleasant for many autistics, including myself, they can also trigger a migraine attack. Over the years I’ve learnt how to minimise some of the ill effects by closing my eyes, blocking my ears and even covering my eyes with my hands to filter out strobe effects when eyelids prove to be inefficient.

So I spent more than half of the show with my eyes closed and hands over eyes, and tried to ignore the fact the my sternum was vibrating unpleasantly due to the volume of the speakers. Consequently I missed most of the illusions incorporated into the act. I also missed the moment when one of the dancers slipped/tripped/fell, although I did see her being assisted off the stage. I hope her injury isn’t serious.

So what did I see? Our tickets were for seats in the front row, although both of us thought we had booked seats a few rows back as we are aware of how modern productions can overload my senses. Being so close, there were opportunities to observe the footwork of the dancers. All I can say is that it is incredible. The speed and precision is something to behold. I wouldn’t be surprised if injuries are very common to the performers.

By keeping my view to floor level, I avoided the worst of the spotlights sweeping over the auditorium, and I tried to convince myself that as it was Irish dancing, the only thing that matters is footwork. But as the show combined dance, illusion, music and song, there was an awful lot that I missed visually.

We saw another Irish dance show a few years back, and I was disappointed when I realised the the sound of the footwork was not coming from the dancers, as occasionally the sound got slightly out of sync with the dancing. With this show however, there was no doubt where the sound of the footwork was coming from, especially when I noticed tiny floor mounted microphones around the stage.

I was exhausted by the time the show ended, but the wife was in her element. She’s the kind of person who loudly and vigorously supports a performance with clapping, frequent standing, shouts of surprise, gasps and anything else that displays her pleasure. As a group of women who were sitting behind us commented afterwards, watching my wife was as enjoyable as watching the show itself.

There was I slinking down in my seat trying hard not to become a nervous wreck and wishing the torment would end soon, while she was practically standing on her seat yelling for more! Talk about contrasts. It’s not the kind of antics one expects from a tiny grey haired 70 year old Japanese woman. If there’s anyone else in the world that can beat her enthusiasm, I’d be very surprised. She’s probably the reason they did four (or was it a hundred?) encores. But I wouldn’t swap her for the world 🙂

As for the show, would I recommend Celtic Illusions? A definite Yes! But if you’re on the spectrum or prone to seizures or migraine attacks, I suggest it might be more sensible to stay away.