We are told the latest coronavirus case is linked to the Defence Force cluster. That’s as may be but the real cluster in all of this appears to be the Government itself. From the ‘hard and early’ joke, its handling of the virus has been hopeless. This latest case has proven to be no different. It is an ongoing shambles. They just can’t seem to get their act together. Nine months on and it appears they can’t even organise one testing station to run properly.
A former nurse who turned up at one testing station said she was appalled by the delays, understaffing and lack of PPE gear. She arrived at the central city testing station at 9.30am and despite being first in a queue of vehicles left after 90 minutes still without having been tested. At one point she was told to get out of her car and join the queue of about 30 on the footpath, which she declined to do. There were only two people doing the testing. Security staff were not wearing PPE gear. How difficult is it to employ enough people to handle pedestrians and cars? I gather one reason could be the pay being offered by the DHB.
Another example has come from a man who lives in the same building as the infected person. He went to two testing stations but was turned away at both, being told they were too full. There is no point in Hipkins, Bloomfield and health officials insisting on people being tested when they don’t have their end of it properly organised. It’s obvious that more testing stations, more staff and more PPE gear are needed.
It was reported that the manager of the shop where the young lady works told her to wear a mask and come to work. The manager has vehemently denied this and is now the subject of abuse. Even the Mayor, presumably without checking the facts, went full-throttle on the manager who is now talking to her lawyer. So would I be, and I’d sue! Even today Hipkins commented saying it’s not up to him whether any action is taken against the manager. It’s in the press that he denied it. Are these people blind as well as dumb?
Now the person herself has come out publicly and rebuked the Government officials’ handling of her case and has said that misinformation released publicly has caused her to be bullied online. This includes the suggestion her manager made her work when she called in sick. A statement from her employer’s lawyer sets out exactly what was said in the telephone conversation. The woman has also outlined the rules in operation at her workplace. The facts, which Hipkins and Goff should have checked, are now clear but in typical leftie fashion they just mouthed off. They owe the woman and her manager an apology. Don’t hold your breath.
The cost of locking the CBD down for a day is estimated to cost $10 million. We can’t keep closing down the country’s biggest city. It’s high time the Government stopped wetting its knickers every time someone gets a sniffle and started working out how they are going to open the borders and join the rest of the world. There’s no point in trying to eliminate Covid when the task is so obviously beyond them. I know from someone who has been at the coalface that it is shambolic. Like everything else this Government tries to do, it’s beyond them.
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