Roger Partridge, lawyer, has written an entire column based on his misunderstanding of what 'elimination' means.

Elimination is not eradication. Elimination is managing the level of Covid such that there won't be an epidemic (widespread illness).

Bloomfield said this himself.

Elimination means that there will still be infections out there that we aren't aware of and the occasional cluster which is then managed to prevent an epidemic.

This is the waves that David Clark has talked about.

And, indeed, the Government since almost day 1.

Lifting the lockdown in some regions and then maybe in all regions and clamping down on localities where there are clusters is THE DEFINITION OF routinely considering the benefits of lockdown versus the costs of lockdown that Partridge is worried about.

Elimination is eliminating the epidemic, not the disease 100%.

This is a medical emergency - understand the definitions and the science or get out of the way.

This thread also basically undermines @MatthewHootonNZ's thesis as the Government has already committed to weighing things up at at least a regional level.

Though, I guess you could still argue at the margins about how quickly or slowly to lift restrictions just as the Govt had to make the decision about how quickly or slowly to stop flights.

I'll have more on Hooton's article later.