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The Cook Islands government says silent transmission of Covid-19 is now likely in the community after a positive case was identified on a flight that arr
Bill Ralston: Cold comfort in the Cook Islands travel bubble
13 May, 2021 08:00 PM
3 minutes to read
As appealing as the Cook Islands may be, most of us will sit tight, writes Bill Ralston. Photo / 123RF
As appealing as the Cook Islands may be, most of us will sit tight, writes Bill Ralston. Photo / 123RF
By: Bill Ralston The Cook Islands travel bubble is now opening up. An ice-cold beer at Trader Jacks in Rarotonga, a swim at Muri Beach and lounging by the pool on Aitutaki. Ah, no thanks. Not at the moment. I might wait a few months.
The pandemic has made most of us much more conservative about overseas travel than we were 18 months ago. As appealing as Queensland or the Cooks may be as temperatures here drop overnight and winter looms, most of us will sit tight. We are nervous about what may happen next. Better to stay home and get that vaccination before making a move.
Australia hasn t felt so isolated from the rest of the world since the jet airliner was invented 70 years ago. But at least we have one thing in our favour: we re right next door to paradise. And while Australia has been congratulating itself for its management of COVID-19, rightly so to a large degree, island nations in the South Pacific have even better pandemic records.
Some neighbouring nations, such as the Cook Islands and Niue, have recorded zero COVID-19 cases while like Samoa, Vanuatu and the Solomons have recorded barely a handful, all in quarantine. Aside from this collective success, they all share in common an enormous dependence on tourism from big brothers Australia and New Zealand.