Virus not an ‘us’ and ‘them’ situation
Face masks can seem a bit apocalyptic to us Kiwis but they have long been a normal sight in many Asian cities. Consumers in Asia have worn them for years and they are not just about protecting you, they are also about protecting others.
Workers in Japan, for instance, take some pride in donning masks to protect their colleagues from their sniffles.
If wearing masks once seemed weird to New Zealanders, that is now changing quickly, with masks becoming common on the streets of Auckland, even without any cases of novel coronavirus (Covid-2019) being identified.
Pharmacies around New Zealand reported being stripped of their mask supplies before the end of January; and a quick scan of Wellington supermarkets reveals shelves empty of hand sanitiser.
A mere few weeks after coronavirus entered the international limelight, and a fortnight after New Zealand introduced border restrictions, we are now beginning to tally some of the initial costs. Both the human and financial.
Tourism New Zealand has estimated a half a billion-dollar impact for the sector – and that is assuming Chinese tourism numbers return to normal in a matter of six months.
Universities have warned of the financial impact caused by the loss of international students. Thousands of mainland Chinese students won’t make it to New Zealand in time to begin the first semester. International students have long been an important source of revenue for universities; and China is our single biggest source of them.
Countries across Asia and further afield are taking a range of approaches to issues such as border control and screening, making travel more complex.
International conferences are being postponed to reduce the virus spread. Even if your business has no cause to travel to China, amid continuing uncertainty it is likely to feel the impact one way or another in its international engagement. Just ask the New Zealand forestry industry.
In business circles, long-held concerns about New Zealand putting all its eggs into one economic basket have a particular resonance now.
Cumulatively, this all seems rather ominous. But, as in other countries, arguably the biggest danger to New Zealand is not the virus itself but misinformation and fear. And how we respond to it.
It has been just over a decade since the H1N1 ‘‘swine flu’’ pandemic worried New Zealanders. Not that long in the scheme of things. But let us take a moment to reflect on how the speed of information flow has drastically increased.
With this proliferation of sources comes a lot of misinformation, some of it accidental; some deliberate. China is often an easy target, partly because it can appear so opaque, and mysterious. Even in mainstream media we saw the republication of a video of a Chinese travel blogger eating a bat four years ago in the Pacific – and that being falsely linked to the outbreak of the virus in Wuhan.
New Zealand, as with many countries, has a long history of seeing China as a potential threat. That history has been captured well in the book
in which historian Nigel Murphy and emeritus professor Manying Ip, an Asia New Zealand Foundation honorary adviser, trace the history of New Zealand newspaper cartoons, painting Asian people in a negative light.
Suspicions of a country itself tend to impact negatively on individual people and it is alarming to hear growing reports of racism and discrimination; both here and internationally. By now we have all seen some of the media headlines but much more is going unreported, from what we have seen and heard at the Asia New Zealand Foundation.
A colleague, for instance, got on a ferry in Auckland the other day and encountered a young Asian man who had an entire row of seats to himself, while the rest of the boat was full.
That is an ostracising and disquieting experience for anyone, and it is not just recent arrivals from China who bear the brunt of this prejudice. More than 15 per cent of New Zealand’s population identifies with at least one Asian ethnicity, and the vast majority of the 708,000 or so people will have been nowhere near China in recent weeks or months – if ever.
Coronavirus is not an ‘‘us’’ and ‘‘them’’ situation. We need to recognise that the threat itself is the virus, not people. It does not care where you are from.
How we respond as a country is also important in terms of how we are seen on the international stage and we all have a part to play in this.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was lauded internationally for her response to the March 15 terror attacks on Christchurch mosques last year; and her statement that ‘‘Racism exists but it is not welcome here’’, is a sentiment equally important in our response to coronavirus.
How an individual, a company or a country deals with fear, panic or pressure is a test of character.
How New Zealanders collectively respond is not just about how others see us but also a test of who we are.
So, if avoiding people of Asian ethnicity is not a solution if coronavirus arrives, what is? The risk of an ongoing outbreak in New Zealand is considered low to moderate. If the virus does arrive, follow the advice of our health authorities and other government agencies who can help give businesses advice on responsibilities towards employees.
It is striking that in this world of hyperconnectivity and speedy information flow, the old-fashioned precautions seem to be the best ones to fall back on at this point in time. Things like washing your hands frequently, and practising good cough and sneeze hygiene.
And do not feel shy about wearing a mask. It might not make you bulletproof against coronavirus but at least it is helpful to others if you have a cold.