New Zealand’s minister of health might just have chosen the wrong fall guy after repeatedly blaming Ashley Bloomfield, the mild-mannered civil servant and wildly popular director general of health, for failures in the coronavirus quarantine system.
David Clark faced growing calls on Thursday to share some of the responsibility after an excruciating video went viral in which he volunteered that Bloomfield had taken the blame for the problems.
In response to questions from reporters about why dozens of people had been allowed to leave isolation early without tests, Clark said: “The director general has accepted that the protocol wasn’t being followed.
“He has accepted responsibility for that, and has set about putting it right,” Clark added.
The camera panned to Bloomfield – standing just behind Clark – who usually has a good poker face, but on this occasion appeared utterly crestfallen.
Newshub Features (@NewshubFeatures)#WATCH: The brutal moment Health Minister David Clark threw Dr Ashley Bloomfield under the bus while standing right next to him https://t.co/e46G6og188 #Newshub pic.twitter.com/WBWss5VBfl
June 24, 2020
Social media users were horrified on the health official’s behalf. His face had been “heartbreaking”, said one; “like kicking a puppy”, said another. “Is Dr Bloomfield OK?” asked a third.
“His wee face,” one reporter tweeted. “This is just an awful way to treat someone.”
On Thursday, a collection was being taken among New Zealanders on Twitter to buy him flowers. The episode had provided a rare moment of unity among New Zealanders on the platform, one user said.
The government led by Jacinda Ardern, has drawn global praise for its handling of the crisis on New Zealand’s shores, with a swift, stringent national shutdown in March and April resulting in 1,169 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 22 deaths.
But in recent weeks, the government and Bloomfield’s department have come under fire for quarantine bungles at the border, including an episode in which two women infected with Covid-19 were permitted to leave quarantine early without tests. Ardern has brought in the military to manage the compulsory quarantine for returning travellers and appointed another minister – not Clark – to oversee it; the government has also tightened up testing rules for those arriving from abroad.
During the unedited recording of Clark’s Wednesday remarks – which the Guardian has heard in full – the minister repeatedly referred questions about travellers leaving quarantine without testing and other failures to Bloomfield, who was shortly to give a news conference. He also reiterated his unhappiness with how “the system” had worked, adding again that Bloomfield had taken responsibility for fixing it.
The minister has made similar comments in a number of other interviews over the past week.
It is not Clark’s first controversial move during the Covid-19 pandemic; in the strictest weeks of the national lockdown he was demoted by Ardern to the bottom of the cabinet rankings, but did not lose his health portfolio, after he admitted he had driven his family 20km to the beach in violation of the rules.
He also took a mountain bike ride while officials urged New Zealanders to exercise safely and close to their homes.
The minister stood by his comments about Bloomfield on Thursday, and did not apologise to the official. But he said the pair had a “professional working relationship”.
Bloomfield on Thursday described his relationship with Clark as “very good”. He would not comment on what Clark had said about him. Ardern said during a radio interview on Thursday that the two were “absolutely fine,” according to NewsHub.
source https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/25/like-kicking-a-puppy-outcry-as-new-zealand-minister-picks-on-health-chief-in-covid-19-blame-game
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