Reconnecting New Zealanders to the world
Today the Government launched a plan to safely re-open New Zealand’s borders from the first quarter of 2022, while sticking with the elimination strategy that has led the country’s COVID-19 response to date.
For now until the end of the year, the focus is on offering the vaccine to all eligible New Zealanders.The vaccination process is being accelerated to ensure everyone is at least partially vaccinated as soon as possible to avoid the risk and impact of Delta variant of COVID-19.
Once all eligible New Zealanders have had the opportunity to be vaccinated, there will be a phased approach to the re-opening of the border.
Phased approach
===============
From the first quarter of 2022, the country will look to move to new risk-based settings as soon as it’s safe. A self-isolation pilot for businesses that need to send staff overseas is planned in the second half of this year, and there are plans to develop new testing and vaccination checking systems at the border.
==========================
There will be new low, medium and high risk pathways when border and health systems are ready.
==========================
1. Low risk: Quarantine free entry for vaccinated travellers who have been in low risk countries.
2. Medium risk: Modified isolation for vaccinated travellers who have visited medium risk countries.
3. High risk: Full 14 days in MIQ and testing for unvaccinated travellers from medium risk countries and all travellers who have been in very high risk or high risk countries.
Testing regimes will remain across all three pathways. A traveller health declaration, including a vaccination certification, will be an important factor in determining the travellers' risk entry pathway on arrival.
=======================
Elimination strategy remains
========================
Sir David Skegg, Chair of the Government’s independent Public Health Advisory Group, said elimination does not necessarily mean “zero COVID-19” or eradication. Early in the pandemic, the Director-General of Health confirmed that our elimination approach focuses on zero tolerance towards new cases, rather than a goal of no new cases. "Our approach has followed this definition, which treats elimination as a process, rather than a permanent outcome," Sir David said today. Alert level restrictions, including lockdowns, will be deployed as we need to in future to quickly stamp out the virus, but greater vaccination coverage will also ultimately reduce the need to use lockdowns. If we open the borders now we will lose the freedoms and advantages we have worked so hard to achieve.
=======================================================
Poll: Should drivers retake the theory test every 10 years?
Drivers get where they need to go, but sometimes it seems that we are all abiding by different road rules (for example, the varying ways drivers indicate around a roundabout).
Do you think drivers should be required to take a quick driving theory test every 10 years?
Vote in the poll and share any road rules that you've seen bent! 😱
-
49.5% Yes
-
48.6% No
-
1.9% Other - I'll share below
Here's Thursday's thinker!
I am lighter than air, but a hundred people cannot lift me. What am I?
Do you think you know the answer to our daily riddle? Don't spoil it for your neighbours! Simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm.
Want to stop seeing riddles in your newsfeed?
Head here and hover on the Following button on the top right of the page (and it will show Unfollow) and then click it. If it is giving you the option to Follow, then you've successfully unfollowed the Riddles page.
Why make picking up reserved library books harder? What do you think? Challenge: Write the last stanza for the first poem attached below.
Once books are reserved in Auckland Libraries books, when they are available no longer go alphabetically by customer but instead go into a Holds pickup shelf number based presumably somehow on when each book needs to be picked up by.
I had two books reserved that arrived on two different days in the Blockhouse Bay Library and hence each book has a different shelf number. Hard to find unless you knew the shelf number in the notification email. Even if you knew the shelf number I found myself three books by the same author on the two shelf numbers.
More recently yesterday a book I reserved was on a different shelf number than was specified in my notification email (see image below).
Sadly it is clear from library staff that a numerical system for reserves is here to stay.
I suggest that so that all books for each person has the same shelf number, the shelf number becomes the last digit of a person's library card (0-9).
Within each shelf number a book is found under the day the reserve arrives in the library (01 to 31, hopefully the same date the email is sent).
Since a customer appears to have 10 days to pick up a book, ten days of the month would appear to be required at any time (for each digit 0-9).
Once there are 10 days used the next day's reserves could go back at the beginning of the shelf number after any remaining books not collected (hopefully none) are removed (along with the old day number and the new day number (01 to 31) inserted) after the last day available and future days' books remaining moved forward to make room.
Each day number (01-31) would appear once for each shelf number (0-9) before the first book on that day- perhaps cover an old withdrawn book with paper with each day number on the spine?
When a reserved book arrives in the library the last digit of the library card could be placed on a piece of paper in the book to be removed when it is put on the shelf, to be recycled the next day.
What do you think?
See the image below and page 3 below for a letter appearing in the Western Leader on 9 September:
www.neighbourly.co.nz...
Loading…
