Health Minister goes for a drive and a mountain bike

Stuff reports:

Health Minister David Clark drove to a Dunedin park two kilometres from his home to ride a mountain bike trail, as New Zealand marked a week in lockdown. 

Clark, who earlier on Thursday told Stuff the coronavirus response was his “singular focus”, said he didn’t “want to give anyone the perception” that he was taking the lockdown lightly, after his van was photographed at Logan Park — a 2.3km distance from his home.

Kiwis have been ordered to stay at home for a four-week lockdown — a severe measure hoped to break the community transmission of Covid-19 — but there has been considerable confusion about the type of exercise permitted. 

Huge hypocrisy from the Minister of Health of all people.

The Government at varying times has said don’t drive anywhere but to the supermarket. You can leave you home to exercise, but you should walk there, not drive etc.

The Police have also said you shouldn’t do activities that have any element of risk, as that could stretch the health system and require people to assist you. They even seem to be banning swimming. But mountain biking cost ACC $19 million last year with almost 6,000 claims.

So us plebs aren’t even sure if we can drive to the beach, and if so can we go into the water. But the Minister of Health drives to a mountain bike park, so he can ride some trails.

“I know single parents with grumpy kids and no job who are sticking, under huge stress, to the police rules to only do essential travel. I was horrified to see the minister’s car parked at at the normally busy local mountain bike trail carpark,” the source said. 

“There were no other cars there and I wondered what ‘essential business’ was being done. Are ministers and their families above the law?”

There were no other cars there because people thought they’d be arrested or cautioned if they were there.

So a huge case of hypocrisy from not just a Cabinet Minister, but the Minister of Health himself.

Just remember everyone do what the Minister says, not what the Minister does.

UPDATE: What is especially terrible about this is the message it sends all the front line health workers. They’re out there dealing with the impacts of the pandemic, and their Minister is out there breaking (at least) the spirit of the Level 4 lockdown.

The other interesting thing is that he is in Dunedin. How is the Minister of Health not in Wellington helping manage this crisis? Could you imagine Tony Ryall being at home in Whakatane during the country’s biggest health crisis? In fact during the swine flu epidemic, Ryall was doing twice daily briefings on it.

Clark is probably the only Health Minister in the world who is not in the capital city but is back home on a Thursday afternoon.

I won’t even bother to analyse whether Clark should be sacked for this, because we know that the only way to get sacked in this Government is to assault your press secretary!

UPDATE2: A Nelson ED Doctor and keen mountain biker had actually called for mountain biking trails to close during the pandemic. He states:

You may hurt yourself, despite riding within your ability. As a mediocre mountainbiker with three sets of broken ribs, two broken hands, a concussion, and untold cuts and bruises in the last 10 years in Nelson, I am only too aware of this.

I always thought I was riding “within my ability”, we all do. If you hurt yourself, you break your social bubble, and expose yourself and others to danger.

Even coming to the Medical and Injury Centre or Emergency Department puts you and others at risk, and a rescue or ambulance is worse. 

We may not have the hospital capacity to treat you and we want to reserve all our capacity for fighting this illness

So here is a front line health professional saying don;t mountain bike at the moment, and the Minister of Health is off driving to mountain biking parks because he has nothing else to do.

UPDATE3:

The Police and Ministry of Health supported closing down mountain biking trails in Nelson and Tasman. Stuff reported:

On Friday afternoon, the Nelson City Council and Tasman District Council announced they were closing down their mountain bike trails, effective immediately, due to the Covid-19 outbreak. 

Both councils consulted with relevant authorities, including the Ministry of Health and police, before reaching the decision and said there was broad support for closure. 

And more damning for Clark:

Cycling New Zealand president Jacques Landry said they were sticking as close as possible to Ministry of Health guidelines to inform cyclists how, when, and where they should ride, if at all. …

The guidelines put forward on Friday encouraged people to ride short and local to reduce pressure on emergency services, and not to drive out to a riding location. 

And if we go to the Cycling NZ website, they say:

Ride from home.  Don’t drive and then ride.

So the Minister of Health was not following the advice of the national cycling body, which would have been done after consulting with his own Ministry of Health.

It will be fascinating to see what excuse Ardern comes up with not to sack him.