New Zealand has not been modest in its success with Covid-19 - but perhaps more smug than arrogant.
The immodesty is also partly because others continue to remind us of our collective success, including frequently Australians.
It was unfortunate timing New Zealand was named this week as the topcountry in the world in the handling the coronavirus pandemic when it was dealing with the first potential community outbreak since November 18.
The ranking was made by a respected Sydney-based think tank, the Lowy Institute, which specialises in foreign affairs. It used empirical evidence using six measures of comparable data from the 36 weeks following their 100th case.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins at a press conference this week. Photo / Mark Mitchell
From a domestic point of view, the two most important measures are first, the ability to prevent the virus crossing the border from managed isolation to the community and second, what happens if that fails.
The timing, however, is also a chance to test that success in real time. The result is a comfortable pass, but less than flying colours.
Obviously it is a fail on the first count given at least three people caught it in MIQ. The response has been mixed, but largely adequate.
For the umpteenth time, the minister, Chris Hipkins, and health chief Ashley Bloomfield, said they will review something we thought had been changed a long time ago - the allocation of rooms in hotels to different cohorts of arrivals.
That is something of a pattern. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said things are always improving in our systems – and that is true, but it is the pace of improvement that is at issue.
She said this week the better-quality N95 masks had been used by staff in MIQ since November - which really should have been happening since they were first set up in April 2020.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins, front, and director general of health Ashley Bloomfield, left, arriving at a press conference with officials. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Another example: Air New Zealand said in the past two weeks it had started requiring face masks on all international flights and in-bound crew from high-risk countries were no longer allowed to self-isolate at home. Again, things we might have assumed had been already happening.
And then there are the things that were on the to-do list but haven't been done.
These include the installation of CCTV in all public areas of MIQs to help identify points of infectious contact.
The ability to do genomic testing by ESR in Auckland began only this week, when it was foreshadowed during the August cluster. That is more a matter of efficiency to process important samples, than risk.
But time matters when it comes to Covid which was why there was a strong reaction against Bloomfield's initial decision to delay revealing the 30 places the Northland case had visited.
Chris Hipkins loses points for lack of concern over the 12 people who flew straight to Australia. Photo / Mark Mitchell
It took the focus away from Health's messaging about who should and should not be tested, and the consequence was that testing stations were overwhelmed.
On the other hand, it was refreshing to hear Bloomfield admit errors - without flannel or excuses that often come with miscalculations, and say that community testing would improve and it did in Auckland.
By and large, the measures taken to respond to failures at the Pullman hotel should engender confidence in the system.
They include banning new arrivals to the hotel, asking all those there at the same time as the cases to get tested, keeping people in their rooms after day 12 testing and requiring all Pullman departees to stay home and get a test on day five.
They get points for that. But that was offset yesterday by the dismissal of the notion that such a protocol should be extended to all MIQ graduates, and a lack of concern that 12 people from the Pullman flew off to Australia.
That alone more than justified Scott Morrison's decision to suspend non-quarantine flights from New Zealand to Australia.
The events of this week should lead to permanent improvements in MIQ and if nothing else, wipe away the smugness for a while.
Budget to provide $164 million towards urgent care services and New Zealand correspondence school Te Kura continues to see enrolments rise. Video / NZ Herald
