LETTER 222
Can the superstar civil servant steering New Zealand by its lockdown succeed once more?
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Final October, I attended a rock live performance by Don McGlashan, a veteran New Zealand singer-songwriter, in Wellington. Midway by, he paused the present to name for a spherical of applause for somebody within the viewers: Ashley Bloomfield, the nation’s high well being official.
As much as that time, the gang had displayed the sort of mild-mannered politeness you may anticipate of middle-aged civil servants — seemingly nearly all of the gang — however with the point out of Mr. Bloomfield, everybody went wild.
Earlier than the pandemic, he was New Zealand’s near-anonymous director-general of well being, a place he has held since 2018. He has since change into a family identify and collective crush, immortalized in hand towels and passion fruit pastry. For a lot of New Zealanders, he’s seen to occupy a place “someplace between their beloved stepdad and a saint,” Ben Thomas, a New Zealand political commentator, stated to me in a latest interview.
On TikTok, Mr. Bloomfield’s near-daily appearances in pandemic information conferences have been set by followers to sultry soundtracks and accompanied by the hashtag #daddybloomfield.
Whereas Mr. Bloomfield’s self-effacing, barely professorial method appears to play nicely with New Zealanders, his reputation is rooted within the nation’s success in conserving out Covid-19.
Till very not too long ago, New Zealand appeared to have made it by the worst of the pandemic virtually unscathed. With a strong elimination technique, the nation has skilled fewer than 3,000 instances for the reason that begin of the pandemic and solely 26 deaths. The financial system is in affordable form, unemployment is low and freedoms have been at prepandemic ranges for many of the final yr. Because the nation’s vaccination effort started to ramp up and amid nascent plans for reopening, the top appeared in sight.
However one thriller case appeared in the neighborhood Aug. 17 and shortly spiraled into an outbreak of almost 350. Circumstances are but to peak. We’re virtually two weeks right into a restrictive nationwide lockdown — however as an alternative of anger, Ashley-mania is on the up, another time. He’s nonetheless being seemed to because the knowledgeable who can get New Zealand out of Covid bother.
For now, staying at dwelling is comparatively novel for many New Zealanders. In Auckland, the epicenter of the outbreak, individuals are principally sanguine concerning the prospect of a weekslong lockdown, which labored nicely within the first levels of the pandemic. Compliance is excessive: We’ve but to expertise the lockdown fatigue that has troubled Australian lawmakers in Victoria or New South Wales. (As one TikToker put it, the top of the lockdown will imply confronting the unhappy actuality of seeing Mr. Bloomfield’s face much less typically on the information conferences.)
However that enthusiasm could dwindle after weeks indoors. At this early level, New Zealand’s Covid-19 modelers anticipate a lockdown of a month or more for Auckland. The free rein we had grown accustomed to — no masks, crowded bars, thumping concert events — could not return even after the country reopens. And our vaccine rollout is much behind that of most different rich nations, placing collective immunity out of attain for months to come back.
The Delta variant has already felled the elimination technique in some Australian states. It might now symbolize vital issues for New Zealand’s plans.
I’ll have an article about that within the close to future. Be happy to share your ideas with us about New Zealand’s Covid problem at nytaustralia@nytimes.com.
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Across the Instances
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