Coronavirus Update #27

It turned out to be a very unhappy Valentine’s day for those of us in New Zealand. After enjoying a really fantastic day in Clevedon (which was going to be the focus of this Tuesday’s blog post until the proverbial poo hit the fan) I checked the news on the drive back to see there there were three new community cases in Auckland. The three all belong to the same family, but they are long-time Kiwis. This wasn’t a case of someone fresh out of an MIQ facility getting a delayed positive.

To be honest, we didn’t think too much of it at first. Positive community cases have happened several times and there was no big change for us. Auckland remained at Level 1 and life went on as normal as the public health officials contact traced and contained the positive cases. They’ve been doing an amazing job of that lately and seem to be refining their skills.

But then there was the announcement that Jacinda was going to be on a 7 pm press conference. That is the tell-tale sign that there will be a change in alert levels. A friend and I were texting back and forth about a long scheduled Monday morning coffee date when the press conference was announced, and we immediately knew we would be cancelling our coffee. The big question was what kind of change would there be, and the bigger question for us was whether or not the kids would be going to school or if we would be back to homeschooling.

The answer? Auckland is in a Level 3 lockdown for three days, possibly longer. A Level 3 lockdown is what I jokingly call an “American-style” lockdown. There’s takeaway and click and collect. We’re supposed to stay home and schools are closed except for kids of essential workers. The good news is that it is only for three days - for now. Assuming the powers that be can identify a probably source and the edge of the positive cases by then, I’m hopeful we can get back to Level 2 on Thursday. I’m also realistic, so I’m trying to mentally prepare myself for a longer lockdown if it comes to that.

Today, Monday, was the first full day of lockdown. Every Monday I go to the grocery store, and today was no exception. It was good to see that people weren’t rushing out madly to the store, there was plenty of items on the shelves, and the only thing that was limited to buy was flour which wasn’t surprising after the great flour run of 2020. (Apparently every Kiwi compulsively bakes in lockdown.) Everyone seems really calm and has the “we’ve done this before, we’ll do it again" attitude that we need to get through this hiccup. Almost everyone was masked, and I noticed a lot more scanning of QR codes. I’m cautiously optimistic that we’ll be back to normal before long, and that is a huge difference between how I feel about New Zealand and the US. The government here has demonstrated an ability to get covid under control. I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and listen when they say to stay home because I’ve realized the benefits of following their plan in the past. We’ll be in lockdown, but it will be for a short period of time. They’ve earned my trust, and I hope all of New Zealand will be able to get back to our position of normalcy.