NZ now at 1138 confirmed cases, the last doubling took about seven days & you can see the curve is definitely plateauing. Whether by good luck or good management we've still only had one death, the number of people in hospital has never exceeded a dozen & there's only ever been one or two in ICU at any time.
Jacinda put a lot of little minds at ease yesterday when she confirmed that both the Easter Bunny & the Tooth Fairy provide essential services therefore are allowed to keep working. She also announced late last week that supermarkets would open on Easter Sunday but not Good Friday: most will use GF to get their shelves stocked ready for the Saturday onslaught that's sure to occur.
I'm not sure if there's been any opinion polling done since lockdown but I'm picking there'll be world leaders who would kill (by proxy, of course
) for the approval numbers Jacinda is gunna get when the next pole comes out. She hasn't put a foot wrong & just exudes calm, determination to get the job done, & empathy for those who're doing it tough. None of which should really surprise after how she handled the Mosque shootings & White Island eruption.
Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield, who would've been unknown to anyone outside of the healthcare sector a month ago, is similarly performing outstandingly. His Minister, not so much: drove his van, with his name & face all over the side of it, to a mountain biking track a week or so ago & has now admitted to driving his family 20km for a walk on the beach. Hasn't been fired as yet but come the pre-election reshuffle he'll be gone for sure if only to deprive the Nats of an attack-ad target.
Easter looming as a big test for the "stay the fuck at home" message. There's talk of road blocks on the way into the usual long weekend hotspots but I'd have thought it better to have them on the main roads out of the main centres, anyone without a very, VERY good reason for being on the road gets turned around & told to go home & stay home: if they get picked up a second time they get fined & put under home detention.