Following the Ministry of Health’s messages

MIchael Reddell looks at the varied messaging we have seen on Twitter from the Ministry of Health on Coronavirus. He is not impressed. Frankly after reading his excellent post, which I strongly commend, neither am I.
Indeed, as Reddell sums it all up
“I really hope that what we don’t see is better than what we are seeing. Because what we are seeing seems complacent and uninterested in genuine openness and engagement. And that is no way for a democratic society to be operating, in which we simply defer to officials, take what they tell us only when they tell us, and not bother our pretty little heads about other stuff.”
When you think about it frightening

croaking cassandra

A couple of weeks ago I signed up to follow the Ministry of Health on Twitter.  Seemed a sensible thing to do: coronavirus and all that.

Since then I’ve been interested to watch their messaging very slowly change.  Two weeks ago (28 February) was when the first New Zealand confirmed case was announced.   We got this

Kia ora koutou – late this afternoon we were informed of a #COVID19 case in New Zealand. The New Zealand Health System is well prepared for this and want to reassure you that the chances of community outbreak remain low.

— Ministry of Health – Manatū Hauora (@minhealthnz) February 28, 2020

By the next day they were so relaxed about the virus they took to tweeting woke public service stuff

pic.twitter.com/7uQppANy6P

— Ministry of Health – Manatū Hauora (@minhealthnz) February 29, 2020

Pretty sure that even then the disease had killed a lot…

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