Irene King (NZ's Geoffery Thomas) says that NZ needs to open borders immediately

[InZed]

Self-proclaimed "Aviation Expert" (a.k.a. full-time Florist) says: "New Zealand should open up its borders to Covid-free countries or risk the aviation industry being left behind", an aviation expert says.

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-...-behind-expert

Aviation commentator Irene King called the move “a tragic theatre that’s playing out right across the global aviation industry”.

"It's about energy and excitement and once you start to get that, then you start to get self-belief that we're going to be OK. You put some great airfares in the New Zealand market and people get excited and it generates interest in wanting to see New Zealand. It's all about that excitement now."

"I think the thing that frustrates me the most at the moment is we have a one-size-fits-all response at the border," she said. "There are countries that are Covid-free, and we should be starting to open up, having a very different tactical response for those countries."

Guys, I guess we better reopen the borders...

[ozbiggles]

Who are these Covid free countries she talks of?
Excitement is getting Covid back just after you get rid of it.

[Massey058]

The only "tragic theatre" is the bevy of so called aviation experts with their contact lists of 1000s of industry experts to rely upon. Irene was also all for the closing of ATC towers. Airways CEO, confronted with the obvious reality is now back-pedaling a lot of his rhetoric.

This complete inability of all these supposed experts to engage in critical thinking before espousing their drivel is, well, you just have to laugh really.

[Goat Whisperer]

Who are these Covid free countries she talks of?

Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu and Fiji spring to mind. Enough to occupy a handful of Air NZ A320/321s.

Oh, and Raro.

[ozbiggles]

Until you bring it in on a plane load of passengers...
I’m sure the countries you outline have had the assets to do large scale testing too.
Anyway, give it a whirl.

[compressor stall]

Antarctica?

[E&H]

She's right...there is no stopping this. We need to open borders and work with outbreaks as they occur. Closed borders are not sustainable.

[Flying Hi]

Originally Posted by E&H

She's right...there is no stopping this. We need to open borders and work with outbreaks as they occur. Closed borders are not sustainable.

Madness! Work with them as they occur? Why, just so you can have an air industry? If closed borders aren't sustainable, neither is a planet with no human population.
Your call.

[das Uber Soldat]

Originally Posted by Flying Hi

neither is a planet with no human population.
Your call.

Er, I think you misplaced a decimal place or two there.....

[ElZilcho]

Originally Posted by Flying Hi

Madness! Work with them as they occur? Why, just so you can have an air industry? If closed borders aren't sustainable, neither is a planet with no human population.
Your call.

Well the USA and other Countries have taken that approach. COVID is now endemic in many parts of the world to the point that unless a Vaccine is found, or the Virus mutates and dies out, we either learn to live with it or forever keep border closed. Without a Vaccine, CVOID will become the modern influenza (which does have a yearly Vaccine)

Now, I believe we still don't know enough about COVID to simply take that approach. History will decide which nations got it right and which didn't.

One thing I do find interesting however, is the daily deaths in the USA. I pay very little attention to the number of cases as it relies on testing... stop testing and you stop getting new cases But the Daily death toll is quite telling.
The USA peaked at around 2,400 daily deaths from COVID. They're at around 600 at the moment, yet the virus is spreading there unchecked. Has the Virus mutated to be less deadly? Is it the result of social distancing and PPE? Time will tell.
As more and more information comes to light from testing, we're seeing a massive rise in asymptomatic cases, or people with extremely mild symptoms. An epidemiologist from Hong Kong suggested from Antibody testing, the number of people who actually contracted COVID could be 6 times higher than we think, as many people have tested positive for Antibodies who never knew they had the Virus.
If this is true, the death rate of COVID is actually extremely low as a percentage, and the large number of deaths are a result of how easily spread the Virus is opposed to how lethal it is.

I don't have the answers, I'm just a Pilot with too much time on their hands. But, if we don't find a Vaccine, the world will need to find a way to live with COVID-19 eventually. If it's proven the Virus is really only lethal to vulnerable people, and we just need to stop it spreading, then we might simply need to re-evaluate what normal daily life is like. PPE might become the norm in the West as it is in the East.