Transtasman comparisons do not always tell story
THERE is talk of an Australia/New Zealand Covid19 bubble being formed. Some of the support for this is based on the idea that the two countries are doing equally well with regard to Covid19.
Certainly, the number of cases on a ‘‘per head of population’’ basis are very similar, but that doesn’t mean we are doing equally well. Size of population should not come into the comparison.
The virus follows a pathway in which each infected person, on average, infects 23 others. How well we are performing depends on where we stop the path.
If, say, we each had 1000 cases, we would be doing equally well. In fact,
Australia has roughly five times as many, showing that the path has gone further (around two steps, as it is a geometric progression).
It is not due to the false assumption that the Australian population is five times larger and therefore each infected person rushes about infecting many more than in New Zealand. We can justly, and proudly, say we have done better.
That said, there is light at the end of the runway for travel. Australians coming to New Zealand would be drawn from the general population. Therefore the odds of each one having the virus must be measured on a ‘‘per head of population’’ basis — giving similar odds to that of a New Zealander being infected.
The future is rail
S. Moynihan
Cromwell
I WAS pleased that the Green Party realised its vision for highspeed rail travel, but yet again the South is not considered.
It is ironic that this announcement was made on the same day that our treasured Taieri Gorge rail was to be mothballed.
Sure, its present day rolling stock is a bit quaint and is more suited to museum display, but we need foresight.
We need a light railcar service at reasonable speed and highend comfort, catering for smaller numbers and more regular times of departure, with track retained to Middlemarch to connect to the Rail Trail.
In July 2019, I wrote to the Otago Daily Times, ‘‘Time to think big with future electric light rail’’ (Letters, 10.7.19) about future electric rail to Dunedin Airport.
Let’s do it — create employment and look to the future.