True leadership evokes a little bit of envy and lots of inspiration. Especially ever since lockdown, there is not a person who hasn't envied New Zealand and their handling of the Coronavirus. Some people wished they were born in the country, others wished Jacinda Ardern was their Prime Minister instead.
The viral clip of her celebrating outdoors further answered why. Recently on Waitangi Day, PM Ardern served up a BBQ breakfast for the public. When people trust their leaders and the leaders lead by trust, a flattened Covid curve, no lockdowns and no masks become a reality in the country. Traditionally, at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, all MPs get involved in BBQ-ing and serving free breakfast for the public.
Flattened curve
When the clip from the Prime Minister's Facebook video of the BBQ gathering found its way on social media Reddit, the comments revealed just how envious those in America and across the world were of New Zealand.
"You can see behind me a lot of people, who've come and we are starting to run low on bacon," the PM, clearly in a cheerful mood, can be seen joking around.
Moving on to another minister, she laughs, "He is serving us, not those charred ones, sausages." As for the charcoal burnt sausages, they are termed as, 'sausages of shame.' After giving the viewers a feel of the celebrations, she signs off, "I hope you have a fantastic Waitangi, a bit of time for reflection as well, because that's what it is all about. Thanks."
Last month, Ardern said during a press briefing how the country's borders were likely to remain closed for most of this year. "Given the risks that exist in the world, and the uncertainty with the introduction of vaccines, we can expect that this will affect our borders for most of the year."
To date, the country has recorded 2328 coronavirus cases and 25 deaths. In the past twenty-four hours, the Ministry of Health reported two new cases that are in managed isolation.
The first to get done with the first wave
This isn't the first time that Ardern has set an example. On June 8 last year she was the first PM to lead the way and announce that there were no new community transmissions for the past seventeen days and all the patients had fully recovered. Phase 1 of the virus was done and dusted with.
How did New Zealand do it?
Recently, Ardern said in an interview that when the virus began hitting Europe, the only two options were to either reach herd immunity or flatten the curve. She opted for the more logical latter. The country of 5 million has had just 25 deaths.
"I remember my chief secretary adviser bringing me a graph that showed me what flattening the curve would look like for New Zealand. And where our hospital and health capacity was. And the curve wasn't sitting under that line. So we knew that flattening the curve wasn't sufficient for us," she said in an interview to AP.
It's about everyone chipping in
A great deal of the credit goes to the people, in whom absolute sense prevailed. They followed the orders and respected the lockdown, without which it wouldn't have been possible. Smaller population, not too many cities, and the fact that it's an isolated island helped too.
