A woman jogs along a near-deserted street in the City of London financial district during England's third national lockdown. Photo / Matt Dunham, AP
A woman jogs along a near-deserted street in the City of London financial district during England's third national lockdown. Photo / Matt Dunham, AP
OPINION
New Zealand has had an admirable response to the coronavirus pandemic. Swift border closure, successful implementation of the quarantine process and a fastidious effort to eradicate the virus have all meant that the country is a veritable haven compared to the rest of the world. Meanwhile, in the UKwe have spent a cumulative nine months in lockdown since March 2020.
And yet, despite a legal requirement to ensure overseas-based Kiwis can come home, the Government continues to force expat New Zealanders - or people who have had to leave the country under emergency circumstances - to bear the brunt of ensuring the country's safety.
The quarantine charge made short visits home financially impossible for many, the managed isolation booking system continues to sell out faster than Glastonbury tickets and the most recent addition - a mandatory pre-flight negative test - has added a further hurdle.
This testing process fails to account for a key aspect of Covid-19: that you can continue to test positive for coronavirus up to three months after you have actively had the virus, even though you're no longer symptomatic or contagious and it is simply a historical case still registering in your system. It also costs £245 ($500) per person per test for the approved fit-to-fly tests, adding further financial pressure.
I live in London and my parents have been over here supporting my sister as she undergoes chemotherapy for stage 3 nodular melanoma - a devastating diagnosis that has had an enormous impact on my family. They were due to fly home last week. However, we all got hit with coronavirus in early January.
Mum has been out of the "contagious" period for more than a week, according to CDC guidelines and has been allowed back into the world after isolating. Meanwhile, Dad's isolation period finished the day before the flight. They were both still testing positive just two days before their flight.
This has meant that not only have they had to move their flights, but they are also left with a huge problem. There are no managed isolation slots available until April and they both desperately need to get home for work.
With this pre-flight testing being such a new situation, it feels like Mum and Dad are unwittingly the guinea pigs for an incomplete system. The Government has been reasonably unhelpful - as of yet providing no support on helping them rebook an earlier space. It has suggested they could fly with a positive test as long as they have a doctor's note confirming they have already had the virus - but with no guidelines on how to get this or what kind of doctor needs to sign it off.
Yet again, Kiwis overseas are further stripped of their ability to exercise their legal right to return home. Most desperately need to return and many are in far worse positions than my parents. Michael Baker, miscellaneous scientists and those in the comments section on Facebook will have you believe these people don't deserve to come home, that they're simply Covid-19 hosts looking to spread the virus far and wide - rhetoric that couldn't be further from the truth.
These are people who have lost their jobs, young people whose visas have expired or parents whose daughters have received life-altering diagnoses. They are New Zealanders - just as much as anyone with that glorious Silver Fern-adorned passport is - and the border process needs to start treating them as such.
I fully support all measures put in place to protect New Zealanders from Covid-19, but these need to be enacted with all New Zealanders in mind. The Government should be consulting those overseas when making these changes, rather than adding further measures to an increasingly complicated and financially inhibiting process.
While the Human Rights Act may legally ensure our "right" to return home, these policies make it feel like we're trapped in a never-ending sprint, with the finish line being constantly moved just as we get within reach.
• Molly Codyre is a New Zealander living and working in London.
