Essential workers miss out on Kiwis’ kindness

The kindness shown by Kiwis during the coronavirus lockdown has been scientifically proven, and the news is good – unless you’re an essential worker.

According to a just-released international study into New Zealand’s unique ‘‘bubble’’ approach to levels 4 and 3, we chose people who needed help when the time came to expand our bubbles, rather than people we most wanted to spend time with.

But the opposite was the case for supermarket, healthcare and other essential workers, who were often shunned through fear they might bring the virus with them.

The report, Living In Bubbles During The Coronavirus Pandemic by anthropologists at Auckland’s AUT and the London School of Economics, comes as the United Kingdom is considering adopting the New Zealand ‘‘bubble’’ system, which is considered a world first.

It recorded responses from 1017 New Zealanders in a self-selecting survey.

The UK government has asked its Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies to look at when and how people will be allowed to expand their household group to include another household group, and the New Zealand model appears to be the frontrunner.

New Zealand’s experiments in creating and expanding ‘‘bubbles’’ could be ‘‘the most valuable lesson of all’’ for countries struggling with how to contain the virus and protect the mental health and wellbeing of their citizens, the report suggests.

Its lead author, London School of Economics Associate Professor Nick Long, said the New Zealand approach was very different to the UK, where citizens were simply told to stay in their households.

‘‘In the UK, all there was was this ‘stay at home’ message. But home is imagined as a very particular kind of place, a cosy place

where you can get all of your needs met, and that’s not the case for everybody,’’ he said.

Long says he suspects the UK population – and its media outlets – could take some convincing of the ‘‘bubble’’ approach.

‘‘This bubble idea has been floated [but] there’s been a lot of media coverage saying it’s a terrible idea, [that] it’s going to be a popularity contest gone mad.’’

That had not happened in New Zealand, and Long said he was struck by the emphasis on kindness and care in lockdown.

The study also found:

■ The vast majority made a ‘‘conscientious’’ effort to conform to the spirit and the letter of Government guidelines and felt guilty about breaches, however small

■ Single-person households had a worse experience than multiperson households

■ Some communities, such as Pasifika and Asian, experienced racist attitudes from others

■ The Muslim community was disadvantaged by unclear messaging from the Government on availability of halal food, and by the timing of the lockdown as it coincided with Ramadan

■ Many respondents said their lockdown experience would have been improved by being allowed to visit one friend not in their bubble.

AUT Associate Professor Sharyn Graham Davies said the Government’s decision to emphasise kindness was ‘‘a stroke of genius’’ and had set the tone for how New Zealanders chose to respond to everyday situations.

But she said the attitudes to essential workers were a surprise and a disappointment.

‘‘Worldwide there’s been token recognition, but none of that has been acknowledged in pay rises or even living wages for most.’’

The study found in some cases it was the essential workers themselves who wanted to stay away from others in case they passed the virus on, which Long said was also a surprise considering New Zealand’s very low rates of transmission.