Though a dream trip turned into a plague-cation with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the Shabtai family says NZ government’s response was better than anything they’d get at home
By IRA TOLCHIN IMMERGLUCK4 July 2020, 2:48 pm
This past December, Noa and Ilan Shabtai, small business owners from Ramat Gan, embarked on their dream vacation to New Zealand along with their three children. They had planned an extended trip with lots of travel, but things quickly changed with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Now, after spending months in New Zealand during lockdown, the family has no small appreciation for their host country. In early June New Zealand’s government announced that the virus has been effectively eradicated locally.
“So long as that last infected person hadn’t been given a certificate of health, the entire country remained under restrictions,” Noa Shabtai said on a video call from New Zealand with Zman Yisrael, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew sister site.
“Even with zero new sick people. Wherever we went, we had to first register with the COVID-19 app, so that the authorities could track us. It was incredible to see how, up until the very last minute, everyone adhered to the 2-meter [6-foot] distancing rule in public spaces and followed all of the directives,” said Shabtai.
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