Government must be praised for Covid19 action

ON Wednesday, April 8, we were told that for the first time since lockdown the Covid19 statistics had fallen and ‘‘we appear to have turned the corner’’.

We must thank the Government for its prompt and bold action which has avoided the travesty that Europe and the United States have suffered for downplaying the pandemic.

We should also be grateful that the experts ‘‘got it right’’, that the Government had the courage to back them and refused to be swayed by those who had political or financial reasons to promote a softer line. It is true businesses and workers will suffer pain but there was no painless option and the Government has done its best.

It bothers me that, now the Government has been vindicated, people are pushing it to bring forward the end of the lockdown. The experts are saying that all our gains might be lost if we act too hastily. Such a move would be irresponsible. The experts were right about global warming, right about the need for a lockdown, and no doubt right again about letting the lockdown run its course. Why don’t we trust our own experts?

Dennis Dorney

Calton Hill

THE only thing that spreads faster than a pandemic is fear.

Viruses — those currently in circulation and those that will emerge in the future — all possess the potential to cause healthrelated complications that occasionally lead to death. We cannot live in fear of catching a virus.

Actual mortality rates are not accurate until entire populations are tested — currently we do not have these figures.

We must remember the majority of us will at some stage contract Covid19, the vast majority of us will recover.

The longer we remain in lockdown, the more we run the risk of economic collapse.

The stress and fear of living in confinement in what has fast become a police state could be devastating to us all as a society.

We are New Zealanders. Freethinking, practical people who do not want their lives ruled by fear or the police.

As a democracy, the question to be asked is, how long are we prepared to stay in lockdown, fearful of catching this flu, before starting to consider the risk of economic failure and social breakdown?

It’s time to take another look at this, hear the facts, calm the fear, think rationally — restart our country . . . fearlessly.

Janine Phillips

Makarora