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NZ is (so far) an exemplar to the world of how to manage a pandemic. Yes, the govt& #39;s dump of internal comms on a Friday sort of sucks, but I can also completely empathise with a decision to just get it over with and damn the feels of the gallery. 1/N https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/10-05-2020/geoffrey-palmer-hallelujah-new-zealand-government-works/">https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/...
For two months now, PM and her team have had to react with speed and intensity to match the exponential vagaries of a foe with no moral compass. The very fact that they have got so much of it right is a testament to their mantra:
Be kind.
2/N
Be kind.
2/N
Decisions are not being made "on the hoof" but it& #39;s about as close as you get to battlefield calls. Delays of as little as 24 hours in those critical days in mid-March had enormous consequences.
Extreme sensitivity to initial conditions.
3/N
Extreme sensitivity to initial conditions.
3/N
For each milestone in the management of the crisis, govt has deployed its massive arsenal of policy analysts and comms strategists to make the best rational case for how to give effect to the advice coming from the medical and science experts.
4/N
4/N
Each decision taken, at each moment, represents a snapshot comprising what information was available right then, the uncertainty it represented, and the consequences of getting it wrong.
In hindsight, with some of that uncertainty gone, whatabouters pile in.
5/N
In hindsight, with some of that uncertainty gone, whatabouters pile in.
5/N
The only way to second-guess any juncture in the timeline is to have only the information that was available right then. Not what we& #39;ve learned since.
NZ govt, with an overriding principle of precaution and protection of lives and safety, has given us a privileged position.
6/N
NZ govt, with an overriding principle of precaution and protection of lives and safety, has given us a privileged position.
6/N
Nearly all of us are still alive and healthy, including the armchair experts. So much the better for the monumental task ahead of us, which is to rebuild (and hopefully refactor) an entire economy for a better and more resilient outcome.
7/N
7/N
So it& #39;s good to have transparency into the inputs and process, and again, good luck getting any of this in just about any country on earth - good times or bad. But for all the whinging coming from bad faithers about "BUT THE FRIDAY DUMP" and "O THE PRECIOUS NEWS CYCLE?"
8/N
8/N
Tenderly place all of that where the sun don& #39;t shine.
Pick over the bones after we& #39;ve made the broth. In case you hadn& #39;t noticed, we are still in the thick of this and a misstep could land us right back in exponential growth of case numbers.
9/N
Pick over the bones after we& #39;ve made the broth. In case you hadn& #39;t noticed, we are still in the thick of this and a misstep could land us right back in exponential growth of case numbers.
9/N
And whether or not you concur that the series of calls that have been made were generally the best possible ones that could have been made in their specific moments, at least show a little gratitude that they did what they said on the tin.
They kept nearly all of us alive. 10/10
They kept nearly all of us alive. 10/10
