Since New Zealand first entered a national lockdown in March 2020, it has been one of a very small handful of countries with a stated policy of eliminating COVID-19 from the community.
On Monday, Labor Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that the strategy was now abandoned, amid an outbreak in the largest city, Auckland. She told a press conference that the highly infectious Delta variant was a “game changer” and that the government would “move from our current strategy to a new way of doing things.”
Ardern justified the about-face by saying that “long periods of strong restrictions didn’t get us to zero cases… Elimination was important because we didn’t have vaccines; now we are doing it, so we can start to change the way we do things. New Zealand would move to the use of “daily public health measures” and vaccination.
The announcement was cheerfully reported in the international media, which insisted that there is no other solution than to let the virus spread and infect the population, killing large numbers of people. The ruling elites in every country view school closings and closures as an intolerable burden for profits. Their point of view was summed up by the infamous statement by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson: “No more lockdowns, let bodies pile up by the thousands. “
New Zealand and China, and to some extent Australia, have demonstrated that it is possible to eradicate the virus and protect lives using strict containment measures and other public health measures. Since the start of the pandemic, only 28 people have died from COVID-19 in New Zealand. The country’s toll has been cited by workers internationally, including teachers and parents, seeking to fight the deadly reopening of schools and workplaces that has resulted in countless preventable deaths.
Contrary to Ardern’s claims, even the Delta variant can be eliminated. New Zealand was on track to eliminate its current outbreak with a strict national ‘level 4’ lockdown imposed on August 18. The total number of active cases in the community peaked at 725 on September 2, then fell to a low of just 202 on September 28, as most people had recovered from the infection.
In response to pressure from big business, however, the government lifted the lockdown outside Auckland on September 8 and, on September 22, lowered restrictions in the city to “level 3”. Against the advice of public health experts, it has enabled more than 200,000 people to return to their workplaces. Auckland’s schools and early childhood centers have reopened for small groups. As a result of these changes, the size of the epidemic has grown again, reaching a total of 350 active cases today.
The government is responding, not by reimposing restrictions, but by further easing the lockdown. Ardern announced that from this week Aucklanders can resume their outdoor activities, friends can meet outdoors in small groups and more children can return to child care. In the coming weeks, more retail stores will open and on October 18, schools in the city are expected to reopen.
Echoing politicians in the United States and other countries, Ardern said the “road map” to reopening was safe as more people are now being vaccinated. She told media yesterday that “the vaccine is a ticket to freedom, it is the most effective tool we have to reduce restrictions.”
In fact, vaccination alone cannot stop a significant number of deaths from COVID-19. Even countries where more than 80 percent of the population is vaccinated, such as Singapore and Israel, are seeing an increase in cases and deaths.
In New Zealand, the risk is much greater because only 39 percent of the total population has been fully vaccinated (48 percent of the eligible population over 12 years of age). This is less than in the UK, where up to 1,000 COVID-19 deaths are reported each week and hospitals are in crisis.
Modeling by Professor Shaun Hendy, a senior advisor to the Ardern government, shows that even with 80% of eligible people fully vaccinated, New Zealand could experience 7,000 deaths from the virus and more than 58,000 hospitalizations over the course of the year. ‘one year.
The hospital system is sorely lacking in staff and funds, and will quickly be overwhelmed by a major epidemic. Tania Mitchell, president of the College of Critical Care Nurses, told Newshub on Monday: “I’m afraid for the public. I’m afraid for the hospitals, the health service. I’m afraid for my colleagues, our team… that it will be overwhelming for us. New Zealand has 4.6 intensive care beds per 100,000 population, which is lower than the UK (6.4) and Australia (8.9).
Microbiologist Dr Siouxsie Wiles stressed that any epidemic will hit the poor and the working class hardest, telling TVNZ: “What is so painful about the approach we take is that the burden will not be not felt the same. ” She stressed that those who called for the lifting of the restrictions were “the rich and the privileged, and this is because they have access to private health care and they will not be so affected.” Wiles was particularly concerned about the reopening of schools, which have been a major source of infections and deaths internationally.
These comments are particularly important because Wiles previously had broad support for the government’s pandemic policies. In March, she was voted New Zealand Woman of the Year by Ardern.
The government’s decision has undoubtedly come as a shock to many workers, who overwhelmingly support the closures. A New Zealand Herald A poll of 1,000 people in August found that only 13% believed the country should “learn to live” with the coronavirus, while 85% supported a policy of elimination.
A weekend protest against the lockdown by far-right Destiny Church, which received massive media coverage after police allowed it to continue, sparked significant anger among ordinary people. An online petition to prosecute church leader Brian Tamaki quickly garnered nearly 150,000 signatures. Yesterday, police laid charges against Tamaki for breaching the lockdown.
There is clearly concern within the political establishment about a resurgence of opposition in the working class. A statement by the Green Party, which is part of the Labor-led coalition government, opposed Ardern’s announcement, saying: “The elimination has protected thousands of lives in Aotearoa [NZ]. We have to stay the course to keep everyone safe. “
The Greens and the Maori Party have highlighted the vulnerability of Maori and the Pacific Islands, who have lower vaccination rates and more health issues that increase the risk of serious illness if they contract COVID-19. By fostering the illusion that Labor can be pressured to change course, these parties are trying to ensure that the opposition does not degenerate.
Meanwhile, the “left” Daily blog editor Martyn Bradbury, although he denounced the National Opposition Party as a “death cult capitalist” for seeking to end the restrictions quickly, has defended the reopening policy Ardern. Fundamentally accepting that it is now impossible to eliminate the virus, he falsely stated: “The Delta will become endemic and nothing less than a perpetual lockdown will end it. You can’t tell double-vaccinated people that they have to restrict their freedom forever. “
Workers must reject abandoning the elimination strategy, which threatens to cause massive deaths and serious illness. It requires a conscious political break with Labor, unions and their apologists.
As the WSWS has warned, the Labor Party, a capitalist party, has never seriously committed to elimination and has repeatedly sought to meet the demands of big business. In March 2020, the Labor government and the union bureaucracy initially opposed the closure of businesses and schools. Ardern was only forced to change course and impose one of the toughest blockages in the world after mass opposition emerged among healthcare workers, teachers and others, regardless of unions.
Workers, teachers and parents in New Zealand and abroad should form grassroots safety committees and prepare strikes and other actions against reopening schools and workplaces as COVID-19 heats up still spreading in Auckland.
We urge readers to attend the next webinar, hosted by the World Socialist Web Site and the International Alliance of Grassroots Committee Workers, “How to End the Pandemic: The Case for Eradication,” where scientists, socialists and workers will discuss the steps needed to eradicate the virus globally.
