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Mar 2, 20214 min read

How does Biden’s Covid-19 Plan Compare to New Zealand Prime Minister Ardern’s Plan?

By: Lakshmi Sunder


With the recent inauguration of President Joe Biden, Americans are hoping that the dire situation of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States will be kept at bay, and that cases and deaths will reduce swiftly.


Though scientists feel that there are a few drawbacks in Biden’s Covid-19 plan - for example, when it comes to the specifics on how he’s going to increase testing on variants of the virus - they believe that the overall plan’s reliance on science, emphasis on mask-wearing and social distancing (along with quarantine if necessary), and vaccine distribution plan makes it solid.


An effective way of showing the solidity of Biden’s plan is by comparing it to other successful coronavirus management plans, like that of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Ardern’s plan has been credited for being particularly successful at handling the virus, so much so that Biden spoke with the prime minister for advice on coronavirus management after winning the election. Ardern offered access to New Zealand’s top-ranking health officials, so they could share the details of this plan.


What was Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s Covid-19 plan and how successful was it?


New Zealand has had one of the best coronavirus recoveries internationally. Many think this is largely in part due to Prime Minister Arden’s approach to handling the virus.


Ardern recognized early on that “flattening the curve” would not be enough to effectively save lives within New Zealand. Instead, she took a stricter approach, implementing a nationwide lockdown in late March. In increments, as cases subsided, the lockdown got less and less strict, going from Alert Level 4 to Alert Level 1 by June. The national lockdown order was imposed for seven weeks in total. Other than this, borders were closed early on, and accurate science-based testing centers were quickly created. The Prime Minister took a federal approach to solving the problem, as opposed to then-President Trump’s state-by-state approach.


A second outbreak occurred in August in the city of Auckland in New Zealand. The situation was looking potentially devastating because many large-scale gatherings had occurred at the time, but by imposing a city-wide lockdown, the virus was once again under control.


As for the especially contagious variant of the virus that originated in Britain, New Zealand is permitting only certain flights into the country from Britain. However, passengers must have two negative tests first (one prior to departure and one prior to arrival). Furthermore, the previous travel bubble the country had with Australia has been temporarily suspended after an outbreak of the variant in Auckland.


To date, New Zealand has had a little over 2000 cases and 25 deaths from the coronavirus, compared to the roughly 430,000 deaths within the US under Donald Trump’s presidency. Even taking population into account, that is still a significantly higher portion of the population.


How does Biden’s Covid-19 plan compare to New Zealand’s plan?


Biden’s $1.9 trillion dollar plan aims to both reduce the effects of the coronavirus and economically assist the many Americans who have lost jobs, have had to leave their jobs (because of preexisting conditions, assisting children with online learning, and/or at-risk family members), or have been evicted from their homes. He plans to increase the amount of money given to Americans in stimulus checks, and also give checks to spouses of undocumented residents (who were previously not allowed to receive them). Furthermore, Biden wants to increase the minimum wage to $15 as a part of his relief plan (including ending the tipped minimum wage in restaurants and the hospitality industry), wants to give more benefits to the unemployed, and has allocated money to prevent evictions and homelessness. Biden’s relief plan aims to reopen schools, increase testing and vaccine distribution, and give aid to states, cities, and territories.


There are many parallels between President Biden’s plan and Prime Minister Ardern’s plan.


Both place an emphasis on a quick response to the pandemic, reliance on science, and an increase in testing. Biden specifically wants to increase the testing on coronavirus variants - though there has been some dissent amongst scientists over the lack of details on funding, staffing, and the process by which this will happen. Much like Ardern, Biden wants to take a more unified approach to combat the virus, rather than letting governors decide on how strict they want their measures to be. He plans to create a national vaccine distribution program that will give free vaccinations to all Americans, regardless of immigration status, bringing them to remote areas and creating community vaccination centers. He also plans to improve testing by spending more money on rapid-result tests, increasing lab capacity, and helping local areas develop effective testing protocol. Biden wants to further emphasize what scientists like Anthony Fauci have placed importance on through mask mandates and social distancing policies. He has even entertained the possibility of a nationwide lockdown, arguably one of the most effective aspects of New Zealand’s coronavirus plan.


As for vaccine distribution, both leaders are approaching the situation in similar ways. Compared to former President Trump’s distribution plan, Biden’s is much less conservative, with the plan to dole out 100 million vaccinations within his first month of being president. Similarly, Ardern aims to vaccinate the entire New Zealand population this year. Her plan is to purchase vaccines from different laboratories - such as Pfizer, Novavax, and AstraZeneca - so scientists can gauge which one will be the most effective.


Only time will tell if this plan will be enough to reverse the monumental impact the coronavirus has had on American life, but it has a sound foundation pointing towards a more promising future for United States constituents. So far under Biden’s presidency, cases have been going down, with over ninety million vaccination doses distributed to date.



Discussion Questions:

  • How will Biden go about enforcing a nationwide lockdown, if he were ever to go through with one?

  • Is it possible to compare the coronavirus management plans of two countries with very different population sizes?

  • Is a state or city-specific lockdown an effective means of reducing outbreaks?

  • Will the use of testing, proper social distancing, and mask-wearing be enough with the new variants? Or will a national lockdown be necessary?

  • How much of the decrease in coronavirus cases is a result of the recent winter storms that have caused testing centers in certain states to temporarily shut down?


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