Dr. Ashley Bloomfield, the countrys unflappable Director-General of Health, gives near-daily televised updates on the number of coronavirus cases in quarantine caught at the border. Bottles of hand sanitizer still proliferate in public places. And customers in ride-hail cars, bars and cafes are expected to scan location-specific QR codes on entry to help with contact tracing in the event of another outbreak.
The country breathed a sigh of relief after a recent cluster of three cases, caught at the port, was apparently quashed within days.
Mingled with all this joy is a looming question that no one really knows the answer to. To keep the virus out, New Zealand has adopted a highly isolationist approach, involving the resolute closure of borders. Only New Zealanders, their families, and a small selection of critical workers can enter placing stress on universities, which rely on international students, and sectors such as international tourism.
If theres no vaccine, or if the vaccines imperfect, do we open up? said Ben Thomas, the New Zealand political commentator. Do you kind of keep this pristine Middle-earth barricaded off from the plague-ridden world forever? Jacinda Ardern has said we cant live with the virus, but what is the alternative to that? That will be the big question.
But at the end of a long weekend and about a month into an unseasonably warm spring, such concerns are far from most New Zealanders minds. Lockdown is a distant memory, coronavirus restrictions something that now hopefully happen elsewhere.
With the nearest major land mass a three-hour flight away, life in New Zealand often seems quite remote even under normal circumstances. Right now, its like another planet.
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New Zealand’s Advance Preview of a Post-Virus World
