Fauci's statements to the House & NZ's stringent use of social distancing
With a more effective Covid response inquiry coming hopefully New Zealand's response and justification for measures will finally be reviewed
Former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the States, Dr Anthony Fauci testified behind closed doors this week to the House Coronavirus Select Subcommittee. A statement by the Chair summarised an aspect of Fauci’s testimony as “The social distancing recommendations forced on Americans ‘sort of just appeared’ and were likely not based on scientific data.”
The same is of course true in New Zealand.
Social distancing in New Zealand was a key part of Covid Alert Level restrictions. Alert Levels were made up quickly in days by then Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her Chief Science Advisor Juliet Gerrard based on Singapore’s existing alert system. An Official Information Act (OIA) request showed the introduction of the Alert Level system in March 2020 had no Ministry of Health input - but depending on the Level in place, social distancing of either 1 or 2 meters was required.
Social distancing became rigorously enforced with ubiquitous arrows and footprints and signs on where to stand and sit to be the ‘correct’ distance apart when in public. Businesses and venues, especially hospitality and events, as well as transport providers had to cut their customer capacity at higher Alert Levels to support these social distancing requirements to open. In an already hard environment distancing made it even harder for some businesses like cafes to operate.
The worst part of social distancing was the emotional fear many people experienced based on being close to another person. Social distancing was a harmful tool to seperate people. At a time we might most need human support - it removed us from each other.
This NZ Herald article from April 2020 has a blurred image of a woman shopping in a supermarket with a tape measure to keep people 2 meters away from her. NZ Post proved their early worship to compliance by standing down staff (who were classed as essential workers) for not complying with these rules.
Government in April 2020 were even providing funding to councils so they could widen footpaths (yes, footpaths outside) to support social distancing once New Zealand came out of Alert Level 4 aka a full nation-wide lockdown as there were no known community cases of Covid.
I’ve been through too many to count proactively released documents, as well as OIAs, to write the background on how some decisions were made in the Covid response. When Fauci said there was likely no data to support social distancing - it reminded me how rare it was to see distancing discussed in those official documents in New Zealand.
In some of the Covid Technical Advisory Group minutes (here’s an early example from March 2020) it notes distancing needs clarity for who and when it applies.
This September 2020 OIA has documents on masks that both supported their use as a visual reminder to get people to socially distance but at the same time could lull people into a false sense of security and lessen adherence to the given good of social distancing.
A given good is exactly how I’d describe any mention of social distancing - it’s a given that doesn’t need any reflection or discussion or justification.
The most note-worthy mention on social distancing I’ve found hasn’t been from official documents but from media go-to (and government affiliated) Professor Michael Baker from Otago University. Baker has been a member of the Covid Technical Advisory Group since its formation in January 2020 (and surprisingly they still meet!) and along with his colleagues writes a blog.
Baker and his colleagues repeatedly lobbied government for increasing mask use across the entire pandemic response while mostly remaining silent on social distancing.
But calling for more mask mandates at Alert Level 2 in a September 2021 blog post (this was after community mask mandates had been tightened in response to community cases of Delta) these experts justified their further lobbying by adding “Guidelines for 1 and 2 metre physical distancing are based on antiquated studies from the 1930s.”
Social distancing like masks was covered under legislation that could impose infringements of $4,000 if you violated these Alert Level restrictions.
Yet did social distancing and masks truly work?
On masks, former Covid-19 Response Minister Ayesha Verrall and former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern stated to media in August 2022 when community mask mandates were in place that “...it is clear that masks are still making a big difference…”
Why no reporter asked ‘how do you know they are making a big difference?’ is beyond me as another OIA showed that these statements had no grounding. Mask mandates in New Zealand were only ever tracked by self-reported compliance through online surveys of between 800 to 1,000 people.
Fauci’s statements are confirming what’s already obvious on not just social distancing. If the use of these restrictions was not based on any firm footing, and was never even measured for effectiveness yet their use had clear financial and emotional impacts to society and individuals - this must and should be reviewed as part of the beefed up inquiry into the Covid response in New Zealand.
*Remember to check out the archives for posts on the history of masks, domestic vaccine passes, the overreach by government on misinformation and why the 90 vaccination target was completely made up among many other topics!