Traffic Light Framework Reaction

On Friday, the “big” announcement about an upcoming change from our lockdown levels to a traffic light system was made. This was the official notice that we’re abandoning the elimination strategy - something that was obvious a few weeks ago - and moving to a suppression strategy. Basically, when New Zealand reaches 90% fully vaccinated, we’ll move to this new system that gives more choices to vaccinated individuals and the businesses that agree to check vaccination status. We won’t rely on blanket lockdowns anymore. If we’re “green” then it is more or less life as normal. If we’re yellow, there are more restrictions in place, especially for unvaccinated people, and if we’re red, there are much more restrictions, though nothing like our current lockdowns. Something more like level 2.5 with gathering limits but with open schools. There are a few caveats about when different parts of New Zealand will move into the stoplight system. Auckland won’t be held up if rural areas aren’t at 90%, likewise the South Island won’t be held up by the North Island not meeting targets.

My initial reaction was mixed. My first thought was that the government didn’t read the room well and putting anything in a red/yellow/green light framework was a really, really bad idea given the popularity of Squid Game right now. Everyone’s spending a lot of time at home with Netflix, and the most popular show has a game where people are randomly killed by a red light/green light game. It seems like a terrible idea to have a covid protection framework that may or may not get you killed using a similar stoplight system. I had to laugh when the New Zealand Herald posted an article with the exact same connection.

My second thought was that this seemed to be a completely unnecessary change. Why not adjust the current lockdown levels with new guidance that specifies the different restrictions for vaccinated and unvaccinated people? Why go from numbers to colors? I can only guess that the point was to be less confusing, but ultimately, it left me even more bewildered than the most recent introduction of the different stages of level 3. Are those completely gone now?

I find some bits of this plan reassuring. I like knowing that when we’re in this new system, if I visit shops and restaurants that are checking vaccine certificates, then I’ll have a certain level of confidence that every person in there with me is also vaccinated and taking covid seriously. I’m not interested in being around people who aren’t taking steps to keep me and my family safe, but I am not looking forward to all of the “are you vaccinated?” talks that will have to happen in the future. This take out the guesswork and awkwardness out of some situations.

Secondly, I like how the plan incentivises both individuals and businesses to participate in the vaccine community. If you don’t want to participate that’s fine, but there are consequences to your choices and in order to keep the rest of the public safer, you’ll have more restrictions when covid is actively spreading. It doesn’t keep the rest of us pandering to people who don’t want to help protect the rest of the community. I’ve already seen companies share that they are 100% vaccinated as a marketing strategy, and I’m curious to know how many more will get onboard. I appreciate this level of transparency and can see making purchasing decisions based on whether or not I feel safe(r) in one location over another.

What are your thoughts on the new traffic light system? And do you think we’ll actually hit the 90% vaccine rate?