Four More Weeks?
The past week has given us more information about the likely duration of this lockdown. After a week of seeing the number of contacts explode, we have also started to see the number of new cases level off. This latter development means the exponential rise of unfettered transmission has been knocked in its head. As has occurred in Australia, many new cases are within households of infected people, highlighting how infectious the delta variant is. However, the ‘curve’ has yet to bend down, meaning a need for caution remains. And we will need to be wary of whether another Australian pattern – essential workers getting infected at work and bringing infections home – becomes an issue here, too.
Contact us
Mark Smith
Senior Economist
Mark joined ASB in 2017, with over 20 years of public and private sector experience working as an economist in New Zealand and the UK.
His resume includes lengthy stints at ANZ and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, and he has also worked at the Bank of England, HM Treasury and the New Zealand Transport Agency. Mark's areas of specialisation include interest rate strategy, macro-economic analysis and urban economics.
Born and bred in the Waikato, Mark studied at Waikato University where he graduated with a Master of Social Sciences, majoring in Economics.
Mark's key strengths are the ability to use his extensive experience, inquisitive nature, analytical ability, creativity and pragmatism to dig a little deeper and to deliver common sense solutions to tackle complex problems.
When not at work Mark likes to travel, keep fit and spend time with his friends and family.
- Email: Mark
