Another 12 days

Aunty Jacinda* announced yesterday we’re gonna keep Auckland at Covid-19 Alert Level 3 for another 12 days.

It wasn’t too much of a surprise, I don’t think. A couple of Auckland-cluster-related infections were discovered in Tokoroa (south of Auckland) so we were gonna need more days to test, quarantine, and get this flipping virus under control aka out of Aotearoa.

My tertiary institution had already decided to keep students studying remotely for another week. It’s so hard for students, I really feel for them. The ‘experience’ of University is a bit shit for them this year. We are luckier than many countries, but it’s still a bit shit.

I walked up to the local store this afternoon - our national lottery is at a whopping $50million dollars - to buy a Lotto ticket. I took my mask and wore it while I social distanced in line, waiting my turn for the “one-in-one-out” policy in stores. I used the Covid-19 tracing app to scan the store’s QR code to record that I had visited the store.

The sun is cool and the sky is blue. A really beautiful late Winter’s day.

Today I’ve been listening to BTS loud-and-proud while doing some long-awaited housework. It almost feels like early Spring cleaning (if that was something I ever did). I listen to a podcast called Stanning BTS and it took me a while to realise when they thanked their VIP Patreons by name at the end of the show the “Michelle” they they meant me.

*Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister, New Zealand.

Covid in the community

For a moment there, we thought we were in the clear. I don’t know why; the experts told us to expect community transmission of Covid-19 but.. well.. we were too busy meeting in large groups, going to the movies, and generally living the dream of a Covid-free environment.

From lunchtime today the Auckland region is going into Alert Level 3 lockdown, and the rest of the country is going back to Alert Level 2.

Prime Minister Jacinda Adern gives an update on the Covid-19 restrictions (RNZ)

New Zealand Covid-19 alert levels (PDF)

Time flies when you're back-to-normal

Something that my brain has trouble with is remembering that Covid-19 is still raging outside the borders of my country. New Zealand had a few luxuries and a fair amount of luck to be able to be almost Covid-19-free; definitely without community-based transmission of the virus so far. The few cases we do have are in managed isolation of people arriving into the country from overseas.

So we’re kinda back-to-normal. We’re at work, schools and pools are open, gyms and libraries and large gatherings are all available and yeh; we’re flipping lucky.

The News carries stories of our beloved trans-Tasman neighbours who are really struggling with containment and death due to the virus. The USA seems to be unmoored and suffering with lack of leadership and commitment to banding together to end their pain. Flare-ups of the virus in parts of Asia and India and this pandemic has the planet in it’s grip and it’s still tightening.

Our economy is suffering even if we’re managing to keep the virus at the border. Tons of people have lost their jobs and their businesses and their incomes and their security. So far I still have a job but you’d need to be a bit of a moron where I work to not see the signs of staff-cuts on the horizon. I work at a tertiary education provider and our international students didn’t make it into the country before our borders closed. We have lost millions of dollars with the loss of their ability to study with us, so cuts will need to be made to keep this institution going; albeit at a lighter staff-load.