Few public servants have become household names like Bloomfield.

His calm performances, his stable grip of communication and immediate recall of vast tracks of real time information marks him as one of the greatest public servants ever and his results speak for themselves…

Coronavirus: NZ’s 2020 lockdown prevented 32,000 COVID-19 deaths and nearly 2 million infections – study

…Ashley was part of a public health response that history will hold up as exemplary.

Sure there were mistakes.

Sure there was a challenge to the State where Health trumped all else and many other departments were rubbed up the wring way.

Yes the DHBs were useless in their community outreach and one wonders how a Māori Health Authority could have performed differently, but overall, he did a remarkable job.

He made real time decisions when we were running blind and his proffesionaloism and intelligence saved us.

The most extraordinary part of his performance was the jaw dropping bile and toxic hate rage that was vomited up upon him every day.

I’m not talking valid criticism or clever social media burns, I’m talking insane asylum sewer level radioactive invective that once read can’t ever be cleaned away.

The vile shit thrown at him for saving our collective lives is bordering on outright lunacy.

He represented our best, the toxic outrage represents our worst.

Thank you for your service Dr Ashley. There will always be parts of rational NZ who will welcome you and who are genuinely grateful for your leadership at a time of huge crisis.

I’ve never seen someone earn a Knighthood before.

Ashley did.

Kia kaha.

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