"Essential" but not wanted

[lovelife65]

Nice Shot.

I like the linear aspect.

Good that you can ‘go for a drive’ – I think that, as a possibility for you and your society, is both sensible and reasonable.

***


And


The legislation is simple and easy to understand here; though the media is confusing the issue for the sake of headlines.

The Governor General enacted Bio Security Legislation a few weeks ago. The Federal Government has acted upon it. The States and Territory Governments basically followed suit: in essence and précis - car travel is only allowed for essential requirements. That is to say one can NOT just “go for a drive”.

WW

Hi WW thanks for the comments. I do think the media is doing a great job of confusing people
In terms of taking a little drive, yes it seems people still are doing that to some degree here (although the last one we did was from this post).
I don't see a huge problem with this other than people then tend to get out of their cars, which is what is needing to be avoided. Even on our little excursion, we drove through the tulip fields (where these workers were) and people were all piled at the gates to parking lots that were closed. I don't get it... there was nothing to see that couldn't be seen from the vehicle.

[Manfred M]

The Governor General enacted Bio Security Legislation a few weeks ago. The Federal Government has acted upon it. The States and Territory Governments basically followed suit: in essence and précis - car travel is only allowed for essential requirements. That is to say one can NOT just “go for a drive”.

WW

I wish it were as clear here as we have three and in some places four levels of government; Federal, Provincial, Regional and Local. Regional is simply a model where independent local communities are lumped together for some shared services like water, sewage, transit.

In Canada health care is a Provincial responsibility, although there is a Federal component that attempts to ensure that all provinces can deliver reasonably equivalent levels of health care services. In theory the Federal Government has the power in emergencies to put in some all-encompassing measures, for instance (re)distributing vital supplies.

So far as I understand it, the Ontario Provincial Government has not been as hard-handed as some other provinces in restricting the use of vehicles. The Province of Quebec (which is just a few kilometers from our house) is much more restrictive to the point of blocking vehicles from Ontario entering the Province.

Local (and Regional) Governments have set up measures as well, for instance the use of local parks has been restricted; we can pass through these, but cannot use any of the equipment such as play areas or park benches to rest at. I'm not aware of what has been done. I know that both the Federal and Provincial have changed the rules on Provincial and National Parks. Perhaps when the weather improves and the black fly and mosquito seasons start to come under control (May - June periods) I will have another look, depending on what is happening with the COVID-19 situation in a couple of months.

A single set of rules for everyone to follow would make so much sense. Unfortunately, every level of government does not want its level of control decreased and that makes it challenging...

[Tronhard]

I am grateful that NZ does not have multiple (state and provincial) levels of governments. Our direction has been clearly expressed by the government - admittedly being tweaked occasionally, but certainly well-publicized.
https://covid19.govt.nz/

Without doubt we are hugely assisted by our physical isolation from other countries - our nearest neighbour, Australia is 2,000km away. But that is not all that we have. We have a government that has been amazing in its decisiveness, humanity and engagement, and it has won the massive support of the nation. That has made a huge difference to our situation - hearts and minds are everything in something like this.

Please forgive if I reprint this and you have previously seen or ignored it...

The world started taking notice of NZ after The Washington Post ran an article with the headline: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...9a9_story.html

The Guardian paper and CNN express why what NZ is doing is so different, and is working when most other countries are floundering… https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/10/elimination-what-new-zealands-coronavirus-response-can-teach-the-world

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/09/a...hnk/index.html

One of the things mentioned in the press has been the combination of political leadership based on science, and that is epitomized here:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...n-health-chief

IF YOU SKIP EVERYTHING ELSE, READ THIS ONE AND THE LINK BELOW:
An article from an academic published by the Guardian. Our PM has had a challenging couple of years in her first stint as leader of the country. She has had to deal with a volcanic eruption that killed and maimed many tourists, the mass shootings in Christchurch and now a pandemic of global proportions. She has shown outstanding leadership in every case, and has been the envy of many other countries. Right now she has more than 84% approval of performance in this crisis – that’s amazing, considering what she has asked of the country.
https://theconversation.com/three-reasons-why-jacinda-arderns-coronavirus-response-has-been-a-masterclass-in-crisis-leadership-135541

As predicted, there has been a minor lift in cases yesterday, and a drop again today. Our death toll is now 4 – all elderly persons with previous underlying medical conditions. But we were warned this would happen so we maintain our confidence.

Looking at what is happening in Europe, North America and even Australia, I am glad to be in a physically isolated country where we can effectively close our borders, and for very appreciative strong, effective and engaging leadership.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/a...ectid=12324107