Too many questions
Are MIQs releasing potentially infectious people before they are safe? Are masks not mandated for MIQ releasees? Wouldn't that be sensible?
Is the Pullman housing a high proportion of UK Covid strain returnees? Is its ventilation system up to scratch for the new variants? By the time we
find out will it be too late? Should returnees with the new variants be isolated in special facilities?
The easy answer to all these ridiculously obvious questions is to stop all returnees until we know the answer. The last question is: why isn't everyone scared into using the Covid tracer app and Bluetooth?
Wake up New Zealand. It's back.
Steve Russell, Hillcrest.
Needs must
Those who are demanding the Government roll out Covid-19 vaccines immediately might like to ponder a few things.
First, our Government placed orders some time ago for a product which has very probably not yet been produced.
Companies who produce these vaccines are being inundated, quite correctly, with orders to supply them to areas where they are needed most for now. Tens of thousands of people worldwide are dying every day in countries which aren't New Zealand. We hear daily via the media at large that producers are having difficulty keeping up with demand elsewhere, so how about we show a bit of kindness and sympathy towards these unfortunates while we are still being protected by the current, very effective measures our Government has in place.
Our time will come, our need is just not as great as others right now. This is not our Government's fault, it's a humanitarian demand that we treat those who need it the most, first.
Jeremy Coleman, Hillpark.
Without a trace
We don't have scanning on our phone and have always signed in on the sheet provided.
We find it really annoying to have to ask for the sign-in sheet at our library and large stores in Papakura.
The supermarkets are excellent with signing in available.
Don't rely on people scanning in, a large percentage don't bother any more.
As for giving them a reward for scanning, that's how we train our pets.
We are responsible for our own safety.
Denise Levien, Papakura.
Filling fast
For those in the Wellington corridors of power trying to fix the housing problem, it must be very frustrating. As fast as they facilitate new housing projects, across the hall the immigration folk issue another set of permanent resident visas effectively nullifying their efforts.
In the months of October, November and December, respectively, 3525, 4428, and 3285 new permanent resident visas were issued. Surely if we are serious about bringing an end to the housing shortage, we should be throttling back invitations to live in New Zealand. For the last 10 years, governments have been issuing between 40,000 and 50,000 new permanent entry visas each year.
That means we need as many as 25,000 new houses each year just to house new arrivals. Remember we only build 35,000 each year. It's time - with a stroke of the pen - to make a real dent in the housing shortage by taking an axe to the number of permanent entry visas issued. All we need is a new annual cap and a priority system.
If we said there were to be no new visas issued, other things being equal, you'd be housing at least 40,000 people in only six months.
S. Matheson, Mt Eden.
Home discomforts
Does anyone else find the Government's blame game on the housing crisis disingenuous? Everyone knows that the seeds of the current housing crisis lay with National's head-in-the-sand attitude, but this Government made it significantly worse by increasing costs and risks for private landlords. Did they imagine that would have zero impact on rental supply or rental prices? Unfortunately, with the huge increase in demand for social housing, landlord responsibility has now become a taxpayer burden.
Eric Wolters, Tauranga.
