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nerwengreenBelow pasted my submission to Covid Inquiry Phase Two:
In my opinion, the government did an excellent job of ensuring the health and wellbeing of the general public. As a relative newcomer to New Zealand at the time, I was especially heartened to watch the natural kiwi sense of community, of “we’re all in this together”, as it unfolded in the beginning - and that the government understood its people well enough to capitalise on this with the “team of 5 million” messaging. I was impressed that the government understood that the health and wellbeing of the people were the highest priority to protect - because although the economy might suffer in the short term, as long as the people are well, the economy will bounce back, while without people there will be no economy at all.
Where they had some lessons to learn might’ve been in the longer Auckland/Northland lockdowns of late 2021. People continually broke their bubbles, transmission of Covid never stopped, which then meant the lockdown had to extend. Eventually the messaging from government became “please only mingle outside and make sure you have lots of ventilation” when they finally understood the high psychological cost of the social isolation that was being asked for. In the next pandemic (an H5N1 seems likely), this messaging could be incorporated in the rules at the beginning. The 2m distancing rule in the first national lockdown in May 2020 seemed to be effective even without masks, so this could be recommended as well.
On the topic of vaccines, in my opinion the government started out doing an excellent job with this as well. The government walked a tight balancing act between not mandating the Covid vaccines, while at the same time retaining their highest priority of protecting the health and wellbeing of people - all people. In particular, there was a focus on the more vulnerable, like children, elderly, immunocompromised, etc. It made perfect logical sense that they were first in line to receive vaccines as they became available, and that unvaccinated people should not be allowed to come in contact with these groups - therefore healthcare workers, education workers, etc. were required to be vaccinated to protect the vulnerable.
The people who objected to these rules seemed to be healthcare workers, education workers, etc. who believed that their career choices were more important than the lives of the vulnerable, and did not understand that career choices are a choice. If they did not want to meet the requirements of doing a particular professional role then they could find a different one, and they would not risk death in the process. This was not the case for the vulnerable that these vaccination rules were intended to protect, who were being forced to choose between participating in normal life and risking potential death, or permanent social isolation.
I was deeply disappointed when the government caved in to the anti-mandate minority after the demonstration camping in Wellington. It ran counter to the original messaging of “team of 5 million.”
On the topic of vaccine safety, I was born and raised during a time period when vaccines were an established and routine part of modern medicine. I have received all of the standard childhood immunisations, multiple miscellaneous vaccinations in adulthood, annual flu vaccines, and Covid vaccines at six month intervals with no long-term ill effects from any of these vaccines. I understand that vaccines work by teaching our immune systems about new diseases by introducing a weakened, dead, or piecemeal version of the disease vector. The modern prevailing sentiment that vaccines are somehow more dangerous than the disease they are intended to treat, is a reflection of public disinformation and poorer standards in public education (in particular a lack of developing critical thinking skills), and that is the larger issue that needs to be addressed.
On the topic of masks, we did not have any mask rules in the first lockdown, only the 2m distance rules, and this seemed to be effective for as long as people continued to maintain the 2m distances. The first national lockdown did come to an end fairly quickly, after all. However, once everyone started returning to “normal life” with naturally much closer physical distances, masks were a good option. Masking while you’re ill in public is a normal part of everyday life in several east Asian countries, and there was no good reason why it couldn’t become customary in New Zealand as well. It’s unfortunate that there are political forces in the world who want to turn it into a political/racism issue.
I do have a personal story about the use of masks. In 2021 I took a job in a seafood factory. As an essential service (food production) it was allowed to continue running regardless of restriction levels, but we were all required to mask and there were screens between each worker station. We also had PCR saliva tests every morning. This system was extremely effective in preventing transmission of Covid. In 2022 however as community restrictions were gradually removed, the factory eventually decided it was safe to make the masks optional. Almost immediately, workers started being out sick with Covid all the time, and I tested positive for Covid for the first time (via their PCR testing). Notably, workers who continued to mask remained well (I unfortunately chose not to, because the factory-issued masks did not work well with glasses). So there’s my firsthand anecdote that the masks actually do work as described by public health officials.
On the topic of the Covid tracer app, I thought it was a good idea. There probably could’ve been improvements on how it worked for people who weren’t tech-savvy, but on the whole it was good to know where Covid cases had been and whether I’d been there at the same time. As long as it remains anonymised - the only info I need is where someone had been while they were actively contagious, and nothing else about them, and that all data collected by the app remains in New Zealand and does not involve any tools from private for-profit third party corporations (e.g. Google), and is deleted when no longer relevant. Since this seemed to be the case (in fact I had a flatmate who seemed to be involved in developing the app), I trusted the NZ government to use the app as intended, and used it pretty rigorously. Just like masks, physical distancing, etc., how effective it is depends on whether everyone else is doing it too, so I would hope that government messaging around future pandemics would tap into the “team of 5 million” concept again.
The offer of free RAT tests continues to be a good idea for as long as Covid continues to circulate at any level.
I received an email that I had submitted in Phase One, but no longer have a personal copy. It is likely that my previous submission was brief. Apologies if I’ve already addressed any of the above to the same level of detail.
Submissions were collected at https://haveyoursay.covid19lessons.royalcommission.nz/
Submissions closed April 27 2025.
In my opinion, the government did an excellent job of ensuring the health and wellbeing of the general public. As a relative newcomer to New Zealand at the time, I was especially heartened to watch the natural kiwi sense of community, of “we’re all in this together”, as it unfolded in the beginning - and that the government understood its people well enough to capitalise on this with the “team of 5 million” messaging. I was impressed that the government understood that the health and wellbeing of the people were the highest priority to protect - because although the economy might suffer in the short term, as long as the people are well, the economy will bounce back, while without people there will be no economy at all.
Where they had some lessons to learn might’ve been in the longer Auckland/Northland lockdowns of late 2021. People continually broke their bubbles, transmission of Covid never stopped, which then meant the lockdown had to extend. Eventually the messaging from government became “please only mingle outside and make sure you have lots of ventilation” when they finally understood the high psychological cost of the social isolation that was being asked for. In the next pandemic (an H5N1 seems likely), this messaging could be incorporated in the rules at the beginning. The 2m distancing rule in the first national lockdown in May 2020 seemed to be effective even without masks, so this could be recommended as well.
On the topic of vaccines, in my opinion the government started out doing an excellent job with this as well. The government walked a tight balancing act between not mandating the Covid vaccines, while at the same time retaining their highest priority of protecting the health and wellbeing of people - all people. In particular, there was a focus on the more vulnerable, like children, elderly, immunocompromised, etc. It made perfect logical sense that they were first in line to receive vaccines as they became available, and that unvaccinated people should not be allowed to come in contact with these groups - therefore healthcare workers, education workers, etc. were required to be vaccinated to protect the vulnerable.
The people who objected to these rules seemed to be healthcare workers, education workers, etc. who believed that their career choices were more important than the lives of the vulnerable, and did not understand that career choices are a choice. If they did not want to meet the requirements of doing a particular professional role then they could find a different one, and they would not risk death in the process. This was not the case for the vulnerable that these vaccination rules were intended to protect, who were being forced to choose between participating in normal life and risking potential death, or permanent social isolation.
I was deeply disappointed when the government caved in to the anti-mandate minority after the demonstration camping in Wellington. It ran counter to the original messaging of “team of 5 million.”
On the topic of vaccine safety, I was born and raised during a time period when vaccines were an established and routine part of modern medicine. I have received all of the standard childhood immunisations, multiple miscellaneous vaccinations in adulthood, annual flu vaccines, and Covid vaccines at six month intervals with no long-term ill effects from any of these vaccines. I understand that vaccines work by teaching our immune systems about new diseases by introducing a weakened, dead, or piecemeal version of the disease vector. The modern prevailing sentiment that vaccines are somehow more dangerous than the disease they are intended to treat, is a reflection of public disinformation and poorer standards in public education (in particular a lack of developing critical thinking skills), and that is the larger issue that needs to be addressed.
On the topic of masks, we did not have any mask rules in the first lockdown, only the 2m distance rules, and this seemed to be effective for as long as people continued to maintain the 2m distances. The first national lockdown did come to an end fairly quickly, after all. However, once everyone started returning to “normal life” with naturally much closer physical distances, masks were a good option. Masking while you’re ill in public is a normal part of everyday life in several east Asian countries, and there was no good reason why it couldn’t become customary in New Zealand as well. It’s unfortunate that there are political forces in the world who want to turn it into a political/racism issue.
I do have a personal story about the use of masks. In 2021 I took a job in a seafood factory. As an essential service (food production) it was allowed to continue running regardless of restriction levels, but we were all required to mask and there were screens between each worker station. We also had PCR saliva tests every morning. This system was extremely effective in preventing transmission of Covid. In 2022 however as community restrictions were gradually removed, the factory eventually decided it was safe to make the masks optional. Almost immediately, workers started being out sick with Covid all the time, and I tested positive for Covid for the first time (via their PCR testing). Notably, workers who continued to mask remained well (I unfortunately chose not to, because the factory-issued masks did not work well with glasses). So there’s my firsthand anecdote that the masks actually do work as described by public health officials.
On the topic of the Covid tracer app, I thought it was a good idea. There probably could’ve been improvements on how it worked for people who weren’t tech-savvy, but on the whole it was good to know where Covid cases had been and whether I’d been there at the same time. As long as it remains anonymised - the only info I need is where someone had been while they were actively contagious, and nothing else about them, and that all data collected by the app remains in New Zealand and does not involve any tools from private for-profit third party corporations (e.g. Google), and is deleted when no longer relevant. Since this seemed to be the case (in fact I had a flatmate who seemed to be involved in developing the app), I trusted the NZ government to use the app as intended, and used it pretty rigorously. Just like masks, physical distancing, etc., how effective it is depends on whether everyone else is doing it too, so I would hope that government messaging around future pandemics would tap into the “team of 5 million” concept again.
The offer of free RAT tests continues to be a good idea for as long as Covid continues to circulate at any level.
I received an email that I had submitted in Phase One, but no longer have a personal copy. It is likely that my previous submission was brief. Apologies if I’ve already addressed any of the above to the same level of detail.
Submissions were collected at https://haveyoursay.covid19lessons.royalcommission.nz/
Submissions closed April 27 2025.
