{"id":22145,"date":"2021-01-20T09:24:39","date_gmt":"2021-01-20T07:24:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aej-bulgaria.org\/?p=22145"},"modified":"2021-01-20T09:26:26","modified_gmt":"2021-01-20T07:26:26","slug":"pandemic-new-zealand-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aej-bulgaria.org\/en\/pandemic-new-zealand-style\/","title":{"rendered":"Pandemic, New Zealand-Style"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Konstantina Vasileva<\/h3>\n

\"\"Konstantina Vasileva is a Bulgarian media analyst with experience in local and foreign companies and research projects. Currently, she\u2019s a PhD candidate in New Zealand and is witnessing first-hand how the country has been tackling the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Against the backdrop of alarming data showing the growing number of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 recently, New Zealand registered a different type of record: number of days without new cases. After<\/span> over 100 days<\/span><\/a> without community transmission (apart from isolated cases related to international travel) at the beginning of August, the country reported<\/span> the lowest Covid-19 death rate<\/span><\/a> in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD. Even though new cases have emerged in the past few weeks, New Zealand has turned into an international role model for dealing with the disease and the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern \u2013 into one of the world\u2019s most popular leaders.<\/span><\/p>\n

So what is behind this success story? To what extent does trust in media and local institutions contribute to the public consensus on applying pandemic measures? How do New Zealanders view the wave of pandemic-related misinformation and conspiracy theories, which managed to subvert expert opinion and scientific information in other parts of the world?<\/span><\/p>\n

A combination of factors<\/b><\/p>\n

The country\u2019s geographic features are of key importance to its successful tackling of the situation. New Zealand is a remote island nation in the Pacific Ocean. In normal circumstances, this location hampers travel to other parts of the world, but during a pandemic, it turns out to be a great advantage. Unlike Europe, where geographic proximity and land borders between states turned into a challenge to properly contain the spread of the virus, New Zealand had a strategic upper hand.<\/span><\/p>\n

First of all, the country\u2019s remote location provided a time buffer which allowed New Zealand to take note of the broad range of reactions in other countries and use these lessons to craft its own response strategy at the beginning of March. By the second half of the month when there was a surge in<\/span> new cases<\/span><\/a>, the government had already outlined a list of economic measures and an action plan with a 4-level security protocol for pandemic response (1 being the lowest and 4 denoting the highest level of restrictions for movement and interpersonal contact).<\/span><\/p>\n

The low population density (just 15 people per km\u00b2) made social distancing a more manageable task<\/span> compared to other countries<\/span><\/a>. The lack of land borders with other countries, combined with a water barrier restricting the crossing between the Northern and the Southern Island, also proved to be natural assets when it comes to pandemic containment. These factors allowed New Zealand to assert precise control over the spread of the disease by applying restrictions which would be physically impossible to implement in most countries around the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Early media coverage also played an essential role in shaping public opinion. Using<\/span> social listening software<\/span><\/a> to look at online coverage shows that until mid-February, the daily mentions of the virus in New Zealand\u2019s traditional and social media outlets hovered below 500 mentions per day. By the beginning of March, the number grew to several thousand mentions per day. The government responded with a coordinated information campaign. With its distinctive yellow branding and simple message (<\/span>Unite against COVID<\/span><\/a>), the campaign synthesised reliable information about the pandemic and urged citizens to take care of themselves and each other. This positive spin on communicating the pandemic rules got syndicated across TV and online video platforms; information briefs took up ad space online and in newspapers; on billboards, posters and even<\/span> traffic message boards on the road<\/span><\/a>; as well as targeted messages in the local online platform Neighbourly, which connects people living in the same neighbourhood in bigger cities.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to government efforts, local organisations, private companies, and educational institutions provided regular updates to citizens, employees, and students. In a time of anxiety and uncertainty, this proactive approach aimed to give people a sense of security by keeping them up to date with upcoming security protocols, action plans for the different alert levels, details about financial compensations, and the rules for remote access to work, study, and organisational resources.<\/span><\/p>\n

Along with communication on macro (national) and micro (local organisations) levels, informing the public was aided by a government <\/span>strategy<\/span><\/a> to cooperate with the scientific community. Prime Minister Ardern and Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield made a point of including science advisors in the strategic decision-making. Reiterating the existing culture of science communication in the country, they treated members of the scientific community as key mediators, whose role is to \u201ctranslate\u201d complex scientific findings into a comprehensive message for non-specialists and the general public. A<\/span> joint project<\/span><\/a> for The Spinoff by microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles and illustrator Toby Morris epitomises this approach in a series of articles, comic-style illustrations, and infographics. The most famous one (<\/span>#Flattenthecurve<\/span><\/a>) made their work viral across the world, earning their efforts international recognition.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Our #FlattenTheCurve<\/a> graphic is now up on @Wikipedia<\/a> with proper attribution & a CC-BY-SA licence. Please share far & wide and translate it into any language you can! Details in the thread below. #Covid_19<\/a> #COVID2019<\/a> #COVID19<\/a> #coronavirus<\/a> Thanks to @XTOTL<\/a> & @TheSpinoffTV<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/BQop7yWu1Q<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Dr Siouxsie Wiles (@SiouxsieW) March 10, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n