.: pn880. Luxon and Seymour: Jumping in on the political gravy train

Wednesday, 23 March 2022

pn880. Luxon and Seymour: Jumping in on the political gravy train

UPDATE. Auckland could change to orange first.
National Party leader Christopher Luxon jumped in ahead of today's Government announcement by PM Jacinda Ardern on relaxing Covid mandates by calling for a complete end to Covid restrictions. "Auckland has passed the peak of Omicron," he said, " and it’s time to move on." Act leader David Seymour, with typical aplomb, thinks mandates should have been lifted long

What neither admits is that nation-wide the number of new cases, hospital cases and those in intensive care remain high (see graphs above and below), and that health advisers have warned against lifting restrictions too soon.

One wonders whether they have sought health expert advice before making these statements, or whether they are merely political postures. Afterall, they may reason, saying something, however inane, is sometimes better than saying nothing at all. We had similar ambivalent statements from them during the Wellington Parliament protests.

Today, the PM has announced no limit to outside gatherings from this Friday, and from April 4th indoor limit sizes raised to 200, no vaccine pass and scanning requirements except for health and disability, aged care, corrections and border workforces. Mandates for education workers, police, the defence forces and businesses operating vaccine passes will be lifted.

The traffic light setting 'Red' will be reviewed on April 4 with an expectation that we could move to 'Orange' in the near future. But this, of course, will depend on the level of hospitalisations —not the 'advice' of Luxon and Seymour.