New Zealand epidemiologist: 'We look at Trump's behavior and we're horrified'

[riversedge]

New Zealand epidemiologist: ‘We look at Trump’s behavior and we’re horrified’

Published 8 hours ago on May 28, 2020


To learn how New Zealand has largely eliminated COVID-19, we continue our extended interview with Michael Baker, an epidemiologist who is a member of the New Zealand Ministry of Health’s Technical Advisory Group and advising the government on its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He describes how the country’s response compares to the government actions in the United States and worldwide.
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We continue with our interview with Michael Baker, professor of public health at the University of Otago in Wellington, New Zealand, epidemiologist, member of the New Zealand Ministry of Health’s Technical Advisory Group. He’s been advising the government on its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Prime Minister Jacinda Arden’s slogan is “Stay home, stay safe, and be kind.” Juan, why don’t you start with the first question?

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Dr. Baker, I wanted to ask you — in our earlier segment, we were talking about the failures of the United States government in being able to adequately deal with confronting the coronavirus, but I wanted to ask you about other parts of the world, specifically the British Commonwealth, of which New Zealand is a part. Your sense about how the U.K. has dealt with coronavirus, and the failings that you might see from afar on the other side of the world?

MICHAEL BAKER: Yeah. One of the things is what framework countries use to look at this hazard, how they managed it. And the world is really split into — you could see now three major blocs.

There are countries which really took their cue from Asia and are now pursuing a containment-elimination approach. And that includes now Australia and New Zealand.
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Then there are countries, the high-income countries of Europe and North America, which basically didn’t assess this as something they were going to contain, and they initially went for a kind of mitigation approach, like the influenza model, and quickly, quickly realized that, actually, it was a more severe threat than seasonal influenza, and then have generally taken a suppression approach after that of dampening down transmission. But that means they’re stuck, really, in this long-term process of going in and out of lockdown, trying to keep transmission down and minimize fatalities........................................



.........MICHAEL BAKER: Yeah. Well, certainly, we all look at Trump’s behavior and are quite horrified at that, because how can you lead a country by example by refusing to — or exempting yourself from the standards that you are or should be advocating for people in the U.S., and, I guess, even globally, because, of course, I think the world has always looked to the U.S. for a great deal of leadership?.................

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. He is a killer as is the entire GOP...the war and total destruction of USA putin ordered is now