We say: let’s preserve our freedom

There will be much to enjoy today. Perhaps a takeaway flat white, a cheese scone or a milkshake. A meal from a fastfood franchise or local business. Expanding your bubble to welcome back a carer or someone isolated. Even leaving home to return to work.

The choice, in many cases, is yours. Today is the first step in the return to normality and freedom.

Janis Joplin famously sang ‘‘freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose’’ . . . but that was clearly before the Covid-19 pandemic.

As we start day one back at alert level three, freedom could be just another word for everything left to lose. Move too fast or act without caution, and that additional bit of freedom could be lost, potentially for a long time.

For this relaxation of the rules to work, it must come with immense responsibility and duty of care – to ourselves and others.

There’s been much debate about the strategy on tackling coronavirus. It’s earned much praise from so many – and the declining number of positive cases, along with the midnight upgrade to level three – underpin that. But there have also been tough questions about the economic and social fallout of ‘‘going hard and going early’’.

In a real democracy, it’s perfectly fine to disagree. But we will, no doubt, agree on one thing:

Nobody wants a return to level four or remain stuck in level three for a prolonged time.

And we can achieve that by limiting our freedom and curbing our enthusiasm for another few weeks. As Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said yesterday: ‘‘The return to pre-Covid-19 days will come but it’s not here yet.’’

If we muck this up, today’s takeaway coffee will take on a bitter aftertaste. Go slow and cautiously for the next few weeks, and think of all the sweet moments to come.

Stay mainly at home, stay safe, stay kind and keep on saving lives.