In New Zealand it only takes ONE case of Covid-19 in the community (as opposed to a quarantine facility) to send us all straight into Level 4 Lockdown. All cases bar one that’ve turned up in quarantine since June have been the Delta variant so today’s Covid case is being treated as though it’s Delta. So from midnight tonight we’re all at Level 4 which is our highest level. For most of us this is provisionally for 3 days but 7 days for Auckland and Coromandel.
The case is a 58yo unvaccinated man from Devonport in Auckland who’d travelled to Coromandel with his fully vaccinated wife. They’d visited a number of hospitality venues including a particular bar for two evenings where there were approx 70-80 people in the bar both evenings. He’d been careful to scan-in to places he visited so that’s a big help.
Alert Level 4 means we stay home and that includes children, so no school. No cafes or takeaways. If you’re curious about the restrictions here’s the official outline: Alert Level 4 | Unite against Covid-19
NZers are very aware of the Delta variant getting the upper hand in NSW, Australia despite them having the best contact tracing in Australasia. I’d expect the majority of our population will be supportive of going “hard and fast” to try and stamp it out. The worry right now is that there’s no obvious connection between the infected man and our quarantine facilities so where did he pick it up?
PS. this man’s apparently done all the right things and there’s no inference of blame in any way. In NZ bookings for vaccines in his (and my) age group have only opened very recently e.g. I’ve only had my first shot. It’s taken a long time for NZ to get the Pfizer vaccine deliveries.
Text and photo by Liz; Exploring Colour (2021)
Exploring Colour 
So sorry to learn you guys have to endure a lockdown, but all Kiwis should take pride in the way their country has dealt with the pandemic. You guys have done a phenomenal job, and here in the UK (another island nation, where it should be possible to keep the virus at bay!) we look on in awe at what you’ve achieved.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh thanks Mr Platypus! I gotta admit we do take pride in how we’ve pulled together to face the challenge, I mean there’s idiots overseas who arrogantly assert we’re ‘sheeple’, under the Nazi jackboot, and all sorts of crazy nonsense. Not that we care about their opinion, we’ve seen what happened in NSW and don’t want the same thing here. I believe the NZ count has already gone up to 10 in the community and we expect it’ll go much higher yet before we hopefully turn it around. You take care too Mr P.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“Idiots overseas” sums it up nicely. Yesterday our government reported 26,852 new cases and 170 deaths here, yet most people are acting like it’s all over, like the virus has been defeated and we’ve won. Life’s nearly back to how it used be, but not of course for the 131,149 people who’ve already died from Covid in the UK. You can’t begin to imagine how much I wish I was in NZ right now!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s horrific and I heartily wish you were here too! I’m so sad for all this suffering, frustrated that a good deal of it could’ve been avoided. As it is, you’ll need to stay very vigilent. Best wishes Mr P.
LikeLiked by 1 person
600,000+ dead here and still many will not cooperate. Hurrah for New Zealanders. I am sure there are a few grumbling but the commitment is remarkable. Hope it is nipped in the bud and things open up again quickly, Liz. Take care.
LikeLiked by 1 person
As of last night, the comments I saw on twitter were overwhelmingly positive and supportive of taking a ‘hard and fast’ approach. No doubt whiners will surface and tbh some folks are terribly inconvenienced by this (I read a tweet where the person was supposed to move house on Fri and now that can’t happen) so I have genuine compassion for situations like that at very short notice. While people sympathised with this person, they also reinforced that the lockdown is necessary.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Bravo to NZ! Stay well.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Michael. The Delta strain is twice as infectious so we wait with baited breath to find out how extensive this outbreak is 😦
LikeLiked by 1 person
NZ seems to do things more efficiently, and therefore affectively faster than most other countries. Of course it helps that the citizens are actually cooperative, unlike many in my country.
LikeLiked by 1 person
There’s a reason though for “seems to do things more efficiently” in this instance. We’ve very close links with Australia and everyone here is well aware of what happened in NSW, Australia because they didn’t treat their first cases with alacrity. Our PM therefore knew she’d have wide support for locking down like she did – which was draconian even by our standards. I’m sad for NSW but thankful their experience guided our response to Delta. Cooperation is a big thing! As an aside I think Delta may be 3x more infectious than the first Covid (rather than the 2x I said to you initiallly). Anyway, take care and stay safe.
LikeLiked by 1 person
My guess is that your population has a lower percentage of people who gleefully take misinformation as gospel.
LikeLike
I hope that your lockdown only needs to last a little while before things can go back to normal. I’m impressed by your government’s sensible response – surely the best way to keep the upper hand with Covid. It is worrying if there’s no obvious answer to how the man picked it up though…hope they find the source.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes I hope they find the source. There’s now four more cases, all linked to the first case. This is a wakeup call for NZ! ~not surprising to us though, we knew it was only a matter of time 😦
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hope it can be contained well. It just shows how careful we all need to be – but NZ clearly IS being careful.
LikeLiked by 1 person
They’ve done the genomic sequencing and it’s the same strain as in NSW, Australia. At least we know what we’re dealing with and that the initial caution is totally warranted. We’re up to 10 people now and the numbers will keep on rising as more people show symptoms. So we just hunker down now until it hopefully peters out 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hunkering down is best – hope you have something good to read! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
With so much news it’s quite an effort to even get myself away from the laptop!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Bravo, Liz, for NZ’s response to contain the virus. You know that’s not what we are doing here with dire consequences. I was pleased to read this morning that many local school districts are defying our governor and mandating masks, although it is likely too late.
I hope your three days pass without incident and you’re back to going about your business.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s good to hear of school districts that are willing to defy the nay-sayers and put human health first. Kudos to them. Woken up to hear we now have 4 more Covid cases, all are linked to the first case.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, and more up in arms about it today with more deaths.
I wonder if the tracing of those NZ cases will shed any light on the mechanism of transmission.
LikeLiked by 1 person
They’ll be super focussed on trying to piece it all together!
LikeLiked by 1 person