Helping small business

Our group is most concerned with the level of destruction of our economy with the continuing of the imposition of levels in response to the China flu.

Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, providing jobs for most New Zealanders, yet it is the small business that has been most affected, some closing, others close to closing. We need our small businesses, which have proven to be successful, to be able to get on with what they do best.

We hear Judith Collins saying people will be able to more easily access funds from their mortgages or KiwiSaver to open new businesses.

It is Small Business Management 101 that one in five small businesses will succeed. That means many, who have been forced to try and create their own jobs and income, will lose even more by borrowing against their mortgage, putting them at risk of having their homes repossessed by the banks, and still no job.

It would seem obvious that Covid19 is not as dangerous as initially thought, and would seem to be less dangerous than the yearly flu. With people implementing sensible care of themselves and others, we believe we should return to life as previously normal in New Zealand. Government could recommend that people strengthen their immune systems so that if they do catch this new flu virus, they will suffer less symptoms.

Our small businesses need to get back to work, whilst they still can.

Seniors’ Voice Otamatea

Also, Covid-19 has been observed to have more super-spreading events than flu. This means the virus that causes Covid-19 can quickly and easily spread to a lot of people, and result in continuous spreading among people as time progresses.

Work is under way to estimate the mortality rate of Covid-19, but at present it is thought to be substantially higher (possibly 10 times or more) than that of most strains of the flu.

Although WHO’s director-general on Covid-19, Dr David Nabarro, has recommended a Covid-ready society in which people will learn to live with the virus instead of unending lockdown as a preventive measure, he also states that life as “normal” is an artefact of the past, and that no country in 2020, whether it is Sweden or New Zealand, will be able to open up and live life as if it were 2019.

According to Nabarro, establishing a Covid-ready state requires the full and willing participation of people, a high level of organisation within communities, public health services as well as Covid-ready hospitals and other health care units.

Advance NZ is attempting to trash these principles, and its leader, JamiLee Ross, can only be described in the newly-coined term ‘covidiot’.

Kerikeri