Success story

Always love hearing a successful public health story. I know this helps my colleagues and I (and I hope everyone) keep moving forward and fighting the good fight.

New Zealand has not had one new case of community spread for 100 days. The 3 month mark is a significant milestone in public health: the post-elimination phase. A few NZ public health officials published their experience in the New England Journal of Medicine (impact factor = 70; this is HIGH) over the weekend.

What happened?

-Eliminated COVID19 103 days after the first identified case

-Total case count=1569 (32 per 100,000)

-Total deaths=22 (4.5 per 1 million); the lowest among the 37 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries

What was their approach? Check out their graph. Briefly,

-"Rapid"

-"Science-based"

-"Empathetic leadership"

-"Public confidence and adherence"

And, because I know it's coming... yes, I know NZ is a different country than the US. No, I didn't make (or attempt to make) any comparisons with the US. This is simply me cheering New Zealand on, as we all should.

Love, your local epidemiologist

Data source: Baker and Anglemyer (2020). Successful elimination of COVID19 transmission in New Zealand. New England Journal of Medicine.