Covid-19 cloak of invisibility slips

The rules that matter most, the ones that will protect us, remain simple but implacable ... they’re not simply a contract that you can lawyer your way out of if you’re smart enough.

They may have us seething, anxious or dismayed, but not every breach of lockdown safety rules that we’re seeing stems from an attitude of wilful, informed defiance. Some cases do. Yet there are those who are breaking lockdown protocols because, even now, they have only an opaque awareness of what’s going on around them.

They’re vague on what the rules are, vague on how hugely important they are, and vague on the cruel consequences of any of their own actions.

That’s quite an anti-achievement given the nationwide effort that has gone on to keep us informed. But for all the communicative capabilities of the modern age, it’s possible for people to develop deeply rutted lifestyles that keep entertainments and distractive time-passing pursuits to the fore, and less agreeable information at bay.

Even these otherworldly New Zealanders will understand that something serious is going on, but perhaps be disinclined to drill down into information they suspect isn’t going to please them.

Then there’s another group who are trying to be clever-clever looking for what’s not expressly banned. That’s a dangerous approach.

The rules that matter most, the ones that will protect us, remain simple but implacable. We mightn’t like them, but they’re not simply a contract that you can lawyer your way out of if you’re smart enough. If you’ve found a loophole, or think you have, most likely it shouldn’t be there and quite possibly it will lead to disease. Loopholes let the virus in.

When the rest of us, trying so hard to do the right thing, see rules being broken by blinkered bad behaviour of others, it’s going to be not only upsetting, but worrying. Because what’s the point?

Be encouraged. It’s going to take an emphatic collective response to prevail against the extravagant harm Covid-19 would otherwise inflict on so many thousands of our lives and the wellbeing of all of us, but that is what we’re seeing.

Or rather, what we’re not seeing. Because we’re in a situation where most of the good, lifesaving behaviour is going to be happening out of sight of onlookers. By contrast, a great deal of the bad behaviour will be conspicuous. Which is helpful, since we need to confront and stop it.

The mere fact we might be noticing more rule-breaking than we want to see doesn’t mean the lockdown is promptly failing – provided we don’t turn a blind eye or lower our own standards. There will still be times when a neighbourly word, polite and sincerely well-intentioned, will be received as such and acted upon.

And when that fails, or might be inappropriate, the online complaints form at 105.police.govt.nz is an honourable alternative that nobody should feel shamefaced about using. That it has been receiving heavy traffic is itself welcome, even if there may be times when people need to make a second try to use it. Even then, it’s greatly preferable to seeing the 111 system, which should be used for emergencies only, being clogged up.

It’s understandable that we’re spooked by the thought of the virus as an invisible enemy. But the visibility of our own failings, if we collectively act to fix them, is an advantage.