Long tail of anxiety
So, the Covid-19 restrictions are being slowly relaxed at last. It appears Auckland is well past the peak of the disease, with predictions the whole country should have hit a baseline number of cases by early next month.
It seems a long while since this nightmare began a couple of years ago. Folks locked down, learnt to wash their hands like a surgeon, made kombucha, did some baking, had impromptu evening drinks sessions by Zoom with friends and family. Many of us revelled in the unique drama of it all. No longer.
The number of infections will remain high for many weeks yet. Two of our kids fled the last Auckland lockdown, exhausted and stressed, and moved into our place down country. I say “kids”, but one is in his early thirties and his partner is in her mid-twenties –they always remain kids to you.
It took a while but eventually they got Covid-19. One has emerged and is no longer infectious, the other is still recovering. Like most youngsters, they say it was like a bad cold or mild flu.
They live in our sleep-out, so it has been easy for them to isolate. We meet up at the end of the day on the back deck, seated three metres apart, and have drinks and dinner. I try not to breathe in. I also don’t pat the dog, which, like a canine Typhoid Mary, trots around licking people, probably spreading the damned infection.
Unlike the snuffling kids, I am approaching the age group for whom Omicron could be a killer. An analysis by the
NZ Herald found about 75% of Covid-related deaths were among people aged over 70. I’m not quite there yet, but you never know. The older you get, the bigger the risk.
Weirdly, due to the lack of detailed data, fewer than 50 of those deaths were confirmed as being caused by Covid. The other more than 300 were still being investigated, as the Covid death figures cover anyone who died within 28 days of getting the disease. Presumably, if you had a fatal heart attack or were run over and killed by a bus, but died Covid-positive, you are lumped into the statistics.
The other problem with the figures is not everyone infected will report themselves officially. They will just go to bed for a few days and feel miserable until it passes. Who knows how many Covid cases we really have?
In the US, a second round of booster shots is being rolled out for the over50s. Here, there is little sign of booster number two arriving. Why not? For months the government exhorted us, threatened us with mandates, and hit us with an expensive advertising blitz to get our
I think that small attack of hysteria goes to prove paranoia is just as infectious as Covid at the moment.
first three shots. Yet now as the efficacy of our latest shot begins to wane, we are not hearing a lot about another jab, apart from that health officials are mulling a fourth shot for the vulnerable and frontline health workers.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson told us in January there wasn’t enough money in the Covid fund for a fourth round and he would have to rustle up some more cash if necessary. I’m waiting, Grant. What with the disease-ridden kids and licky dog, if I get crook, it’s your fault, mate.
I think that small attack of hysteria goes to prove paranoia is just as infectious as Covid at the moment. We have to learn to live with it for a long while yet. Now I think about it, winter is coming on. Where’s my influenza shot? I’ll ring the doctor. ▮