Middle NZ: Why so many positive Covid 19 tests at the border?

Why are so many people arriving in NZ with Covid-19 when proof of a negative test is required before they travel here? Photo / File

I have a question. Why are we still getting so many cases of Covid-19 at the border when on January 15 the Government announced that all travellers to New Zealand (except those from exempt locations) must have a Covid-19 test taken and a negative result returned within 72 hours of their first scheduled international flight?

The exempt counties include Antarctica, Australia, the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Wallis and Futuna.

Yet an arrival on February 7, who departed from the United Kingdom, tested positive on "around day 3/routine testing".

Three arrivals from India on March 6 all tested positive "around day 0/ routine testing and on the same date, two arrivals from Brazil had the same result, positive on day 0.

Clearly the requirement for a negative test before departing for New Zealand is just not working and needs to be reviewed.

I know Kiwis want to come home and I don't blame them, but as we have seen in recent weeks it takes just one person to have us moving up alert levels, forcing businesses to close their doors.

We really do need to protect our borders at all costs. All of us have made huge sacrifices to be where we are today in a world where Covid has run rampant and sadly killed millions of people.

Linda Hall, assistant editor, Hawke's Bay Today.

Lots of people complained about going up a level and I understand why. However, take a look at the likes of England — its Government ignored scientific advice about lockdowns and instead opted for 10pm closing.

I still can't get my head around that decision. Did Boris Johnson think Covid only came out to spread around after 10pm?

Eventually they were forced into lockdown and today, more than a year into the pandemic, they have just started moving out of their third lockdown, which was put in place on January 4.

According to Mr Johnson, the last stage of lockdown easing will happen no earlier than June 21, which will likely be opening any parts of the economy still closed and lifting restrictions of people both indoors and out.

That's a long time. Hopefully, the vaccine will help them to reach their goal a bit earlier.
That just goes to show how lucky we are.

Decisions were made hard and fast in New Zealand and I am so grateful for that.
Yes, like thousands of other people, I am disappointed Art Deco and Horse of the Year didn't go ahead. I certainly don't envy the decision-makers around these huge events.

I've heard people say they jumped the gun and we could have gone ahead with both events.

However, there is a huge amount of preparation for events like these that was just not possible under alert level 2.

What if it had gone the other way and they had spent thousands of dollars in the hope we would go to level 1 and it didn't happen?

It's fair to say 2021 has not begun the way we all hoped it would. Covid, earthquakes — there's no denying it is stressful but at least our hospitals are not full of Covid patients, at least we can visit friends and family, we can travel around our beautiful country, we can eat out, we can thank our lucky stars that we live in New Zealand.

• Linda Hall is assistant editor at Hawke's Bay Today.