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Covid 19 coronavirus: Hilary Barry responds to Fox News' Laura Ingraham's 'quarantine camp' comments

6 minutes to read

Laura Ingraham said the policy was a "terrifying new response". Photo / Supplied

NZ Herald
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TVNZ star Hilary Barry has responded to Fox News host Laura Ingraham, after Ingraham's segment claiming that New Zealand had set up "quarantine camps" for its citizens.

"Dear Laura," Barry wrote on Twitter, quoting one of Ingraham's tweets. "You're an egg. Love from New Zealand.

Twitter users praised Barry's comment, with one user describing it as "minimal words maximum effect".

New Zealand actress Lucy Lawless also replied to Ingraham's tweet, calling her a "poor, lost tw*t".

"I'm in NZ where last weekend, one of my son's had his 21st at our house and the other son hosted a dance for about 60 high school seniors till the wee hours. We go to the park, yoga classes and travel freely within the country with no community transmission," Lawless wrote.

Ingraham, a right-wing television host for Fox News in the US, spread misinformation about New Zealand's response to the Covid-19 pandemic, sharing an old clip of Jacinda Ardern and claiming the Government is "throwing people into quarantine camps".

The Fox News host made the claims on her show yesterday, joining a growing number of right-wing pundits overseas who are casting New Zealand's response as a threat to freedom.

"The American left and their media poodles have long held up New Zealand as the model for how to properly deal with a lot of things, including Covid, but anyone who loves freedom should take note because the Kiwis have a terrifying new response to rising Covid case numbers," Ingraham said.

"They're throwing people into quarantine camps."

"No leaving the camp until you're negative," Ingraham adds, putting on a faux New Zealand accent.

To support her claims, Ingraham shared an old Facebook live clip from Jacinda Ardern, originally posted over four months ago.

In that clip, Ardern answers questions from viewers and details the Government's policy of demanding that those in quarantine remain until they return a negative result and enforcing their continued stay if they refuse a test.

What Ingraham calls "quarantine camps" are in fact our managed isolation hotels.

The clip was shared by Ardern in June, after New Zealand had beaten community transmission for the first time on June 8.

It was used by Ingraham to suggest that the policy was new and in response to "rising Covid case numbers".

Kiwis and Americans hit back at Fox News 'fake news'

Meanwhile, an article published on the Fox News website, echoing Ingraham's segment and adding in commentary by Hoover Institution senior fellow Victor Davis Hanson has generated hundreds of comments, as Kiwis and Americans debated the misinformation in the story.

"I arrived into New Zealand about a month ago and they aren't exactly quarantine camps. They put us up in five star hotels with all food and drinks paid for. The Fillet steak and roast beef meals being my favourites, although having a full cooked breakfast every day was also very nice. I almost chose not to take the test just so I could stay longer," one person wrote.

"I'm now travelling around this stunning country where there are no protests, gun violence or hatred. No masks to wear, no temperature checks and no Covid as it all gets stopped at the border. God bless New Zealand and In the words of William Wallace ... FREEDOM!!!!!"

Another commenter called it "twisted logic".

"Because NZ has had such a low impact of Covid they don't need these policies, ignoring the fact that these policies are what ensured that NZ had such a low impact. Of course, practically no one in NZ will care about these ramblings, and NZ have just responded to their Government's handling of the pandemic with a landslide victory for the Government," the commenter added.

"Hmmm if by 'camps' you mean free, four to five star hotel with free food and drink, then yes," someone else wrote.

"Ha, I find this article utterly hilarious ... The mind boggles how people can be so naive... At any one time, NZ places about 5000 people into mandatory quarantine for 14 days. Most of these knew they would have to enter mandatory quarantine on arrival into NZ, and yet they still individually chose to fly to NZ. Yep ... their choice," another reader chimed in.

"The second point I'd make is that the personal freedoms of those 'few thousand people' might be restricted for a couple of weeks, but in return, NZ can operate as a country Covid-free, and for that, we have five million NZ'ers who can go about their daily lives unimpeded ... including those most vulnerable to Covid. Just remember folks that those 220k+ Americans who have died have lost the ultimate freedom ... the freedom to live," the reader added.

NZ's efforts praised by WHO

New Zealand's efforts in fighting Covid-19 have been widely praised, with the World Health Organisation (WHO) recently highlighting the steps New Zealand took to eliminate Covid-19 within the community.

WHO video outlines how New Zealand eliminated Covid-19 in the community. Video / WHO

In a four-minute video posted on social media, the WHO details how the country went from its first case of coronavirus, on February 28, to the peak of daily new cases at 89, to successfully eliminating the virus within a matter of months.

The video singles out New Zealand's plan, including the strict lockdown measures, the isolation of any positive cases and close contacts, as well as the country's contact-tracing methods.