Coronavirus Update #7
And we begin the 7th week of the world being consumed completely by the coronavirus. Today, it feels like this has been going on forever.
April 10 - There are 44 new cases today and our second death. It is a somber start to the Easter weekend. People are generally dismayed that the numbers popped back up. We felt like we were doing so well and getting all kinds of international accolades for our positive trajectory. This morning, CNN even did a little clip that that is circulating all over the place. Part of what is frustrating is that the cases are domestic. There’s no blaming everything on overseas travellers at this point. It’s all Kiwi clusters that are spreading. The spread is pretty slow compared to other places, but it is still there.
There is a lot of concern that people won’t take isolation seriously since it is the long Easter weekend. Typically people will travel to their holiday homes (known as baches here) but this year, there are police roadblocks out to make sure that no one is travelling. That didn’t stop people from enjoying the gorgeous weather, though. There is still heavy foot and bike traffic by the beaches and parks as people spend time outside. Since today is Good Friday, even the grocery stores are closed so even more people are out.
April 11 - 29 new cases today, which is good, but our third and fourth deaths, which is not good. These deaths were older individuals with underlying health conditions, but it is still scary. On top of that, two new clusters in Auckland were announced today. One centers around a day care facility for people with disabilities, but the other is a “social party.” There are no other details about that one, and it is a little unnerving. Do we know someone who attended? We haven’t been contacted by any of the health ministry’s tracers, so I don’t think we’re at direct risk, but what about our friends?
On the plus side, there are more people recovering than falling ill. A total of 422 people have recovered, a gain of 49 over the past 24 hours. That puts us at +20 for the day.
April 12 - Happy Easter! There are 18 new cases today and no more deaths. We’re being warned to expect more deaths from the elder care home cluster, but the decrease in new cases is giving us a little hope that maybe - just maybe - this might be under control. Another sign that things are getting better? There’s been talk about reopening some schools on April 29. The general thought is that it will be school for essential workers only, though I’ve heard a lot of parents say that there is no way they are sending their kids back to school until we’ve gone two weeks with no new cases. I wonder when that will be?
While most Kiwis stayed put over the Easter holiday, the police have stopped quite a few lockdown-breakers and issued 847 citations for disobeying the rules. I am simultaneously surprised at how low and how high that number is. Low because it is .02% of the population, but high because what would you be doing at your holiday house that is any different than what you would be doing at your primary residence right now?
April 13 - There are 19 new cases today and another death from the elder folk’s home. This is especially concerning because there are now three clusters focused around rest homes for the elderly - two in Christchurch and one in Auckland. The coronavirus deaths in New Zealand so far are all in older individuals.
In other news, I got to experience what it is like to go in for an emergency dental visit. My son has a really uncomfortable toothache, and we were able to get into our usual dental practice the same day for an exam. There were lots of safety precautions in place, starting with a phone call to discuss the new procedures even before we could enter the building. We waited in the car until they were ready for us. As we walked up to the door of the dentist, we were given masks, gloves, and they took our temperature. Our dentist - not the normal person we see - came out in usual clothes to say hello and introduce himself to us and to prepare my son that he would be wearing a very strange “astronaut-like” outfit in the exam room. It was a very good prep for the dentist appearing in full PPE a few minutes later. We got through the exam relatively quickly, and I think relatively safely. I still washed my clothes and showered when I got home, but I was very happy with all of the safety precautions they took.
April 14 - There are four more deaths today, all elderly and three were residents at the Burwood rest home. This raises our death toll to nine, and it is a reminder that this is why we’re in lockdown in the first place. We don’t want these numbers any higher than they are. On a positive note, there are just 17 new cases and 82 recoveries. The numbers are definitely moving in the right direction!
I went to the grocery store in the evening as opposed to first thing in the morning, and I was shocked with how lax afternoon shoppers were with protecting themselves and social distancing. The morning shoppers are all about the gloves, masks, and standing 6 feet apart. The afternoon shoppers could care less, and there were several chatting up a storm on their cell phones as they did their regular shopping. There were the same shortages at the store (still no flour) but most things were back in stock. The big positive was that there were no lines to get in the store. I just walked right in, grabbed a cart, and did my shopping in about 40 minutes. It was almost like shopping pre-coronavirus.
April 15 - Another pop in cases today, for 20 more new and probable cases. There is also a report of a probably coronavirus related death, but the man died in his home without a test. He hasn’t been counted in the official death toll yet, but I think it is only a matter of time before that is confirmed. We now have 1386 confirmed and probably cases, 728 recoveries, and 9, possibly 10, deaths.
There is excitement growing about the possibility of lowering our alert level to Level 3 next week. The government is set to make a decision on Monday the 20th and to release more detailed guidance of what Level 3 will look like. Technically we spent 48 hours at Level 3 before the lockdown, but that was a general stock-up free for all and not well defined.
April 16 - Today there are 15 new and probable cases and 42 more recovered cases. The government isn’t saying yet whether or not we’ll go down to Level 3 next week. Instead, they started random covid-19 tests by selecting 300 people at a Queenstown grocery store to get swabs. They’re trying to understand what - if any - community transmission exists. It will be interesting to see if they extend this program to other areas around the country to determine if there are areas of community spread that we just don’t know about yet. There is a large contingent of the country that wants to stay where we are in Level 4 lockdown for longer to make sure coronavirus is good and truly stamped out before we all leave our bubbles.
The government also released guidance on what Level 3 will look like. The key changes from level 4 to 3 are:
Minor extensions to bubbles (The example I've seen is that if you want to see grandparents again, that would be ok if you aren't sending your kids to school.)
E-commerce reopens (currently only essential goods can be purchased online. Nothing non-essential can be delivered.)
Takeaway food and coffees available, as long as the business can take orders and payment through an app or online
Continue to work from home
Partial reopening of schools (only for kids under 14 and only if no other childcare is available. It is still recommended to stay at home and do distance learning. I’ll be curious to see what the specific guidance form our schools is.)
Funerals, weddings limited to 10 people (and no food served.)
This reopening of New Zealand was even noticed by the US. Amy Siskand, author of The Weekly List, posted about how much better New Zealand was doing than the US. While she didn’t quite get the concept of a drop down from Level 4 to Level 3 or that this wasn’t a guaranteed thing, it was nice to get some recognition.
