It’s our time to sacrifice for greater good of Kiwis
We need to face up to the fact that Covid-19 is not going away any day soon
We all know things
can change in an instant and that we may have to mask up despite feeling
stuffy and uncomfortable.
Well, Covid-19, thewee sneaky beastie, is back in the community. Weallknewit would happen but it is still gutting, especially for Aucklanderswhohad to putup with level 3 lockdown.
Teenagers facing the stress of end-of-year study and exams are the people I really feel sorry for. Being a kid nowadays is hard enough withoutnowworrying about accessing decent resources and teachers.
Disruption to higher study and trade training in probable future lockdowns will also have a flow-on effect in our educated and trained workforce. We need a constant flow of graduates and tradespeople to replace us old boomers shuffling into retirement.
Small business owners are pulling their hair out again. Some will not be back, especially in the hospitality sector. It might be said they were marginal anywaybut that is unkind andmaybeuntrue.
Running a business in the best of times is challenging. Although the Government has stepped upto help, the stress is simply toomuchfor somebusiness owners.
Looking to the future, theyknow morelockdowns are probable until a vaccine arrives sowhybother?
The first lockdown period changed living routines for many. As a retiree working part time from homei really did not notice level 2 other than having masks nearby.
Wehave becomemoreselfsufficient andmaybea bit reclusive. Our life has changed, probably forever.
Wehavenowfoundways to do things that do not necessitate leaving home. Wecan even dogp consults fromhomefor normal maintenance appointments.
Ihad to go to an appointment a weekago, so woremynewhomemademask, a fetching black mottled colour. I wasthe only person doing so. Social distancingwas non-existent and I felt like a bank robber as well as hot and stuffy.
As ACOPD sufferer, I really do not need yet another barrier to trying to breathe so I am really torn at times. I amchoosing not to wear amask now.
This decision can change in a momentof course. Self-isolation, social distancing and the Covid app do it for me.
Wenowhave half adozen masks of very striking designs and colours, runup by the bride in a frenzy.
Wehave a friend, also a very able seamstress, whomakes themfor sale. They are going like hotcakes in
Covid land because most people knowthis pandemic is not letting us go any time soon.
Weallknowthings can change in an instant and thatwemayhave tomaskup despite feeling stuffy and uncomfortable.
Whatreally grindsmyteeth is the inane opinions of a few, saying that asnewzealand has not really been hit by Covid-19weshould be allowedmore freedoms and the border restrictions should be relaxed with a view to herd immunity.
The very simple reasonwhywe have not had the crippling death toll seen in other countries is simply because our much-maligned Government put in place measures to protect our people, a government’s first and most important duty in any developed democracy.
Donot these otherwise intelligent people understand this? Toachieve herd immunity, according to Johns Hopkins University, in general, the answer is 70 to90per cent of a population, depending onhow contagious the infection is at the time, need to contract the virus along with the huge death toll that will precipitateamongthe elderly and health-compromised of all ages.
Is that what these few but vociferous critics would be comfortable with? Surely they are not heartless people.
Newzealand has taken ahuge hit financially butweare awealthy country andwewill recover eventually no matter what party runs the Treasury benches.
Newzealand politicians, for all their differences, are notmadeof the stamp of someother nations’ politicianswhoare, inmyopinion, callous towards theirown populations and selfish about their ownwealth and security.
People ofmyage and younger, that is mostnewzealanders apart from the very old, have never had war or a virulent pandemic to deal with. This is it. This is our time to sacrifice for the greater good and to care for each other as our parents and grandparents had to do in the 20th century.
Mostnewzealanders are under no illusions that our lives have changed.
Someare fighting this invarious ways, protests, court cases, demanding alternative strategies ranging from herd immunity to quack cures. Butweallknowdeepdownlife will be very different until adecent vaccine is developed.
Wewill adapt, that’s what people do. Let us thinkmoreof each other just now.