This is a message for catherine powell, the head of host relations - although the platform didn't allow me to reference her, so maybe she's not contactable?
In New Zealand, we do not have community transmission of covid-19. Our borders are closed, and anyone who is allowed into the country must go into a mandatory government run quarantine facility for 2 weeks and test negative for the virus before being allowed into the community. We have a government that made good decisions and a population that followed the rules, and we have successfully contained the virus. We are not required to wear masks anywhere - indeed, the W.H.O states that mask wearing is helpful where there is community transmission, hence it is not necessary in New Zealand. I understand similar rules and results are in place in some states of Australia, such as Western Australia and others. I also understand that most south Pacific countries do not have active cases of covid.
Having read the onerous cleaning protocol requirements, I am asking myself why airbnb has imposed these additional costs on kiwis when it is totally over the top and not necessary. Although some people have already signed up to the protocol, I doubt that any are actually following it to the letter given how out of step it is with what is going on in NZ at the moment - ie no covid! Cleaning ALL the dishes on every visit? Moving and cleaning under ALL the furniture every visit, discarding vacuum bags after EACH CLEAN? For those hosts that do actually follow the guidelines, the costs will be passed on to guests, making the use or airbnb even more expensive than it already is. Guests will also not abide by a requirement to wear a mask when this is to required in any other situation in New Zealand, anywhere! For example, on the weekend, our largest city hosted a rugby match with a crowd of 50,000, with no mask-wearing. Read my lips - we do not have community spread of covid in New Zealand!
I ask airbnb to please get down off its high horse, look outside its US-centric issues with covid, and apply some common sense for those of us living in the sane part of the world where our countries and states have managed to contain the virus. I ask that these protocols NOT be mandatory for parts of the world that do not have community transmission of covid.
