Coronavirus: Emerging Kiwis head to Maccas, counting cost of a fried economy

New Zealand has emerged from its level four COVID-19 lockdown with big questions over whether it was worth the cost.

Jacinda Ardern introduced some of the world’s most stringent lockdown measures. Picture: Getty Images.

New Zealand has emerged from its level-four COVID-19 lockdown with big questions over whether the additional business-sapping restrictions were worth the cost.

Both Australia and New Zealand have been held up internationally as exemplars of how best to manage the COVID-19 crisis. But where Australia imposed social distancing and closed restaurants and other small businesses, New Zealand went further — closing all businesses and keeping everyone locked inside.

Allowed out on Tuesday for the first time in weeks, many New Zealanders headed straight for McDonald’s, causing traffic chaos in the capital, Wellington.

Customers queue up for the "drive-thru" at a McDonald's restaurant on the first day of the easing of restrictions in Wellington. Picture: AFP.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the country would spend two weeks in level three lockdown ­before the government decided what to do next.

Opposition Leader Simon Bridges said the government had gone too hard for too long and he believed the “medicine was worse than the disease”.

“We flattened the curve and don’t want to flatten the economy,’’ Mr Bridges said. “We need to get New Zealand working again.’’ He cited Australia as an ­example. “We have seen in Australia the sort of rules they are putting in place in the last 24 hours — relaxing social distancing — and I am fighting for those issues for New Zealanders.”

Mr Bridges became the subject of a social media firestorm last week after he questioned the decisions to extend New Zealand’s level four restrictions for a week. There have been reports that his leadership is under threat.

New Zealand, with a population of 4.9 million, has had 1472 COVID-19 cases and 19 deaths. Australia, with a population of 25.6 million, has 6728 confirmed cases and 86 deaths.

But opinion polls continue to show overwhelming support for Ms Ardern’s handing of the crisis.

Ms Ardern said leaving level three would not require a complete halt in cases, but instead “zero tolerance” for new cases, with the ability for the country to immediately stamp out any spread when new cases arose. “We can’t afford to loosen up our personal lives, because we’re entering new risks with our places of work and our places of education,” she said. “Stay home. While your work life may be changing, unfortunately your ­social life can’t for now. Stay strong, be kind. We are going to be OK.”

NZ columnist Andrea Vance said as the country moved into recovery mode it was time to drop the hero worship for Ms Ardern.

“Politicians should not have fans,” she said. “Hero worship eventually reduces our complex, and occasionally flawed, political figures to one-dimensional icons.

“Just because Ardern is ­remarkable does not mean she is always right.”

An editorial in Stuff.nz defended the opposition’s right to question. “Other countries have shown a less rigid form of lockdown can be as successful as the one in New Zealand while also giving the economy a chance to recover as quickly as possible,” it said.

“Ardern rightly gets the benefit of our goodwill, co-operation and tolerance for mistakes. But anybody who responsibly suggests she and her team have got it wrong ­deserves a better hearing than to be shouted down on Facebook or national radio.”

The economics of the COVID-19 pandemic will soon come into much sharper focus as the Ardern government frames its budget on May 14 ahead of a scheduled September election.

Ms Ardern has made it clear that her government will use the COVID-19 pandemic to push ahead with its social agenda. “This period is an acceleration of what already was our view: that the status quo was not good enough for New Zealanders,” she said.