Open AccessReframing New Zealand’s Biosecurity Conversation Post-Covid-19: An Argument for Integrating Interspecies Concerns
Author(s) -
Deidre Ann McDonald
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
national security journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2703-1934
pISSN - 2703-1926
DOI - 10.36878/nsj20200202.07
Subject(s) - biosecurity , pandemic , government (linguistics) , preparedness , public relations , covid-19 , public health , political science , conversation , globe , cognitive reframing , sociology , medicine , psychology , biology , law , ecology , linguistics , philosophy , nursing , disease , communication , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , ophthalmology , social psychology
This article began in March 2020, during New Zealand’s Alert Level 4 lockdown, and the writing process has spanned more than five months of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic. As at August 2020, COVID-19 continues to rage across the globe, while New Zealanders enjoy a relative freedom of movement. Due to a collective commitment to biosecurity practices such as isolation, quarantine and movement restrictions, along with the government’s strong public health messaging, the ‘team of five million’ had, at the time of writing, eliminated COVID-19 from our communities. This article discusses New Zealand’s biosecurity messaging in light of COVID-19, and argues that biosecurity discussions that link animal management practices with risks to human health are essential for pandemic preparedness. As a global leader in biosecurity, New Zealand is well placed to make the conceptual shift towards treating public health and biosecurity as a shared concern.