What Should Other Nations Take From New Zealand’s Handling of the Pandemic?
Michelle Liu
With only around 4,200 cases and 27 deaths, New Zealand miraculously avoided the worst of COVID-19. While other developed countries yearn for pre-covid life, New Zealanders have tasted a semblance of normalcy. But, New Zealand’s successful covid response was not a mere fluke of luck: it was the hard-earned reward of historical norms and modern technological innovation. With such achievement, New Zealand has much to teach the world, especially to developed economies with more resources.
The pandemic taught governments a childishly logical lesson: mere doors and locks do not hinder pandemics, making successful lockdowns imperative for a coronavirus response. While many developed nations protested over travel restrictions, New Zealand forged ahead with targeted lockdowns. Indeed, 84% of the general population supported strict lockdowns, a stark difference from the United States, where even government leaders argued against lockdowns and mask mandates. The reason behind New Zealand’s lack of pushback rests in a historical-cultural norm: Manaakitanga. Promoting a close-knit community, the Manaakitanga culture derives from the native Maori community, which upholds collectivism and believes that individuals are only as strong as their community. Because the Manaakitanga culture is well-embedded into the general culture, New Zealand’s government was able to pass many of the harshest lockdowns on the world with limited pushback. Indeed, while the delta variant runs amok in nations with limited pandemic restrictions, New Zealand placed its largest city, Auckland, on a month-long lockdown after only 45 cases. Lockdowns may be painful, but New Zealand’s collectivist culture smoothed any disruption and bitterness.
Additionally, New Zealand embraced modern innovations to combat COVID, resulting in a cross-pollination of the past and future. Teaming up with Apple and Google, the island nation developed a highly successive contact tracing app, with a tracing rate of 86%. For a contact tracing app to be successful, the accurate tracing rate must be above 80%, a statistic that New Zealand surpassed with ease. Indeed, New Zealand’s contact tracing system is now a benchmark for other nations. But, other governments completely abandoned contact tracing after technical failures. For example, France’s contact tracing app was used over 1.8 million times but only contacted 14 notifications. On the other hand, the United Kingdom's contact tracing app sent out too many alerts, evidenced by false notifications. In a modern time, governments must weaponize technology against pandemics. If not, they lose a vital ally in the fight for public health, as evidenced by western democracies suffering from second, third, and even fourth waves of COVID.
New Zealand’s blend of new approaches and old traditions to fight against COVID-19 worked effectively and efficiently, placing New Zealand at the pinnacle of public health governance. Now, other nations must heed and hearken New Zealand’s policies with attentiveness and intention. By doing so, they will not only gain a semblance of normalcy but also save countless lives.