I am massively pro-state intervention on this one but there also needs to be acknowledgement that in democratic states you need to try and take public opinion with you. That's seldom achieved by shouting at people and calling them morons (even if that is what is screaming at you inside based on your own analysis of the situation).
In terms of 'letting the stupid die', that is now in essence the situation that is unfolding. If you expose yourself to greater viral loads (proximity, duration, ventilation) and don't get vaccinated you are far more likely to succumb because the virus has mutated away from only severly harming the very old and quite likes the taste of folk in their 40s upwards. Plus the 'non-stupid' who get vaccinated and don't expose themselves to excessive viral load give themselves every chance of just shrugging off an infection.
The above is why I've shifted from being far more hardline than European governments to now being only a bit more hardline than European governments in my sentiments.
Assuming your figures on NZ mortality rates are accurate they seem to match what is being seen in South Korea (i.e. very bad - although vaccination rates in South Korea are way ahead of NZ which is what makes their experience so unusual). I'd sepculate that these mortality rates may suggest the immunity and resistance gained from natural infection are more powerful than that gained through immunisation because the mortality rates now in countries that 'let it rip' are far lower (of course those countries have hundreds of thousands of people now dead). If that is ever proven i think distinct summer and winter policies need to be implemented, but even the summer ones should include the basics of face coverings on public transport, home working where possible and Covid passports until this sucker morphs into something that our scientists start beating a bit more emphatically.
Personally, I'd be fairly relaxed if I was a Kiwi heading into summer. There are loads of things that kill you. In Scotland the following kill around 800-1400 per annum
Drug overdoses (who says Scotland aren't number one at anything. Knock off valium and low purity heroin cocktails baby!)
Alcohol deaths
Suicides
A really bad flu will kill 2000 Scots in four months. Covid has killed 5,000 Scots per annum and is now at a much lower rate over the last couple of month or so and I'll be surprised of there are more than 2,000 in total in 2022 (and hopefully much less). Yes these figures are still higher than the other causes of death I list above, yes it is different and yes the Covid death figures would be ludicrously high if everyone just went around ignoring all measures to restrict spread; but with the advent of vaccines, rules on face coverings and vaccine passports it is no longer something to be hiding behind the sofa about if you take common sense measures (unless you are immuno-suppresed and/or forced by your employer onto public transport or an unventilated office in which case I'd personally be very concerned for myself and an elderly relative I care for). And Scotland royally ballsed up our initial response as much as the rest of the UK did and NZ did not, so Covid killed loads, but loads of things kill loads!
The following will all individually kill more Scots than Covid in 2022, barring something catastrophic.
Heart disease
Dementia
Lung cancer
Strokes
Other respiratory diseases
National Records of Scotland
www.nrscotland.gov.uk
Just because we don't get daily **** poor sensationalist media coverage of the above obsessing over crappy charts and statistically insignificant trends in order to desperately hold the viewing public's attention, that doesn't mean people aren't dying in large numbers of all these other things (and yes, inferior health care due to the impact of Covid-19 on health provision will be a contributory factor in doubtless elevating some of these non-Covid deaths).
I don't know your vital statistics, but if you are vaccinated I'd wager you are statistically more likely to die from a stroke caused in part by sustained elevated anxiety and anger over Covid-19 matters than you are to die of Covid-19. I'm not even joking there. The solution is clearly for us all to focus our anxiety and anger on the actions of others that contribute to our elevated risk of suffering a stroke! It's the only logical approach to maximise our chances of living another year.
www.theguardian.com
www.travellingtabby.com
