Time to build
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is reported as saying vaccines will essentially negate the need for specialist MIQ facilities, advocated for by most epidemiologists including professors Nick Wilson and Michael Baker.
Unfortunately, vaccines never stopped the flu either and we never eliminated the measles as well. The truth is: viruses
keep mutating and (as only 4 per cent give blood) there is clearly a phobia of needles. We will never reach herd immunity despite "vaccine hope" as anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists proliferate.
Ardern has no better shovel-ready project than specialist MIQ facilities - where is the "abundance of caution" now as she puts all her eggs in one basket? It is going to take years before the world reaches herd immunity as Covid will keep mutating, requiring booster vaccines forever.
Above all, there are a number of Aucklanders like me with building "lockdown resentment" caused by continual failures at the border. It is enough - fix the "leaky hotel syndrome" with purpose-built facilities.
Steve Russell, Hillcrest.
Slim pickings
With the impending huge shortage of export fruit pickers, I wonder how the Government will confront the optics of distressed growers having no alternative but to dump huge volumes of high-quality fruit, otherwise destined for overseas markets.
The fishing industry had success in bringing hundreds of fishermen from Covid-19-ravaged eastern bloc countries, many of whom predictably tested positive on arrival, or during the course of managed isolation.
Contrast this approach with the barriers presented to Pacific Islanders, who in the past have proven absolutely vital to the successful harvesting and packing of export fruit and vegetables. According to the latest WHO coronavirus statistics, Cook Islands and Tonga have zero recorded cases; Western Samoa, 3 cases; Vanuatu, 1 case; Solomon Islands, 18 cases; Fiji, 56.
The Government's $1000 enticement payment and accommodation subsidy, while well-intentioned, is an abject failure. As of last week, a paltry 53 locals had signed up to do the work of the thousands that are required.
Previous years have seen strong efforts by growers to employ locals to do the work, but with dismal results. Desperately needed labour from our neighbouring Covid-safe
Pacific Islands should be fast-tracked immediately, with a Covid test upon arrival and a shortened stay in managed isolation.
R. J. Horrocks, Papakura.
Risky riding
The NZTA in its wisdom has been paying for TV advertisements about enjoying motorcycling in NZ. The series is titled "Respect Every Ride", and features footage of powerful motorbikes driven by cool-looking characters in expensive protective gear, as they zoom through the NZ countryside with the engine revving.
Why are we paying to glamorise the driving of motorcycles? More than 550 motorcyclists are killed or seriously injured in crashes in NZ each year. They are 21 times more likely to be killed or seriously injured in a crash.
The TV campaign was probably intended to get people to take more care on the road, but the producers never get around to that advice, and just stick to showing the fun times to be had by hooning around corners. The only effect from these ads will be more motorcyclists, driving faster, taking more risks, and the deaths of more riders.
The ads must be stopped immediately and whoever signed them off should be fired before they can cause more injury and heartbreak.
Dave Clark, Glendowie.
Expensive errors
I had a letter published about it in July, 2014, but it took until last year for Auckland Council to acknowledge its derivatives problem and the mistakes that resulted in losses presently estimated at around $1.5 billion.
Auckland City Mayor Phil Goff (NZ Herald, February 23) chose not to mention derivatives while writing about Auckland City's proposed "one-off increase" of 5 per cent - in addition to the 3.5 per cent rise already advertised) The 5 per cent figure, we are told, is "to deal with the impact of Covid-19".
Given that it has taken Auckland Council several years to own up to its botched derivatives deals, I wonder whether there are any more expensive errors we ratepayers should be aware of before we take advantage of Mayor Phil Goff's invitation to have our say?
John Julian, Waiuku.
Blundering on
I hope that many Aucklanders will read the "recovery budget" (NZ Herald, February 23). It is riddled with false assumptions, wrong priorities and ideologically driven nonsense.
It should be enough to make any reader realise that this city needs a mayor who knows what leadership really means, has a modicum of business common sense and an understanding of what is really needed for this city to recover.
Some of us surely remember the promises made that amalgamation would produce, by virtue of the economies of scale, a reduction in rates.
Surely also, there is compelling logic in the argument that, rather than spend money now on facilities (like cycleways on the North Shore that lead to nowhere) that will not have significant demand for some years, it makes sense to spend that money on existing facilities which are crying out for maintenance and improvement, e.g. the art gallery, swimming pools, parks.
What this city has to recover from is not so much Covid but rather a leadership vacuum that has existed since amalgamation.
Peter Newfield, Takapuna.
