Coronavirus Update #18

August 14 - We find ourselves back in lockdown. It’s Level 3 right now, so I’d label this an American-style lockdown. There’s take out, online shopping, and click and collect orders. So far there are 23 cases in the new coronavirus cluster and Jacinda announced that we’re going to be in Level 3 for 12 more days. The rest of the country will stay in Level 2 which makes no sense because there are already cases outside of Auckland. I am afraid that this short amount of time in lockdown won’t be enough to actually get rid of the virus especially outside of Auckland.

August 15 - You’d never know we were in Level 3. Today is a gorgeous, sunshiny day so everyone is out and about. Yet there is no social distancing and very few masks. I went by my favorite coffee shop and there was the usual Saturday morning crowd outside. Probably 25 people. And I was THE ONLY PERSON wearing a mask. I saw three masks for the hour I was walking outside, and it is busy out there today.

There are 7 more cases today, all associated with the Americold/South Auckland cluster. There seems to be several big opportunities for spread, including a popular Auckland-based Cook Island doctor who is in the hospital and a 300 person church service in Tokoroa (outside of Auckland) where 2 positive cases attended church last weekend. My fingers are crossed that Level 3 is enough, but based on what I’ve seen today, people aren’t taking any precautions at all.

August 16 - Another fabulous day full of sunshine and no masks. The news ran a story showing all of the Aucklanders out and about, and I was shocked at the majority of the comments. People were saying how great it was that Aucklanders were out getting sun instead of moping inside. They failed to understand exactly how packed the public places were with no social distancing and no mask wearing.

There are 12 new community cases and 1 new managed quarantine case. I’m beginning to wonder how long this is going to last because there is no way I’d feel comfortable going out in less than two weeks.

August 17 - Nine new cases today, and the big news is that New Zealand has delayed our election for a month until October 17. While I understand why this was done, I hate the fact that this will be used in the United States as a precedent for delaying the US election in November. Never mind that the governments are set up differently and there is no mandated election day her in Kiwiland. I can see the Trump tweets already… And it is really disturbing.

August 18 - 13 new cases again, one of which is a worker from a managed isolation hotel. In other words: not part of the existing cluster. Today I have my first mini-breakdown. This isn’t going to end any time soon and we’re now in the same purgatory that the US is in. We’re going to have to make all of those miserable pandemic decisions that I thought we’d avoid by having a “go hard, go early” government. As it turns out, it doesn’t look like we’re going all that hard, and there’s no way I feel comfortable going back to even a modified normal any time soon.

August 19 - 6 new cases today, 5 in the community. Today makes me feel much more optimistic that maybe, just maybe, the Level 3 strategy will work. I’m hopeful this is the beginning of a downward trend, especially since the Minster of Health today announced that Level 4 was off the table. Level 4 is what got rid of coronavirus the first time around and I think it would be a relief to be back there and to know that elimination is only a few weeks away again.

However, my mood completely crashes in the evening and I dive into one hell of a pity party because the uncertainty of not only this outbreak but future outbreaks is heavy. This is definitely one of my lowest moments during lockdown ever.

August 20 - 5 new community cases today. That makes 78 cases in the Auckland cluster, which is the third largest cluster for New Zealand ever. It is incredible to think that this newest was detected ten days ago and there are already 78 cases because of it. There are now six people in the hospital and one person in the ICU. In addition to the Auckland cluster, there are also 21 people in managed isolation who flew in with coronavirus and the other mystery case from a worker in a managed isolation hotels who caught it from someone who came from America.

I’m feeling slightly better today now that there have been two days in a row of lower case numbers. Tomorrow there will be another announcement about what lockdown holds for us. It is currently scheduled through next Wednesday. Will it be extended? Will the geographic region in lockdown change? I hope they don’t drop us down to Level 2 because I do not feel confident that all of the cases have been identified yet. Less than two weeks ago there were people walking around in the community unknowingly carrying the disease, and especially after the maintenance worker who tested positive seemed to pick it up from riding in an elevator AFTER an infected person was in it, I do not feel secure knowing that all of the cases are identified yet. What if there were more fateful elevator rides?