Given a couple of covid threads here this week, thought I'd share this with you all.
Last Friday afternoon (Kiwiland time) an Auckland tradesman and his wife went away to a seaside town for the weekend.
After dinner on Friday they retired to their hotel. On Saturday morning the tradie got up feeling ill. Instead of staying in he decided the weekend deserved him to "harden up" and enjoy it. So off they go to do the tourist thing, including a 2 hour dinner while watching an Australia/NZ rugby game in a crowded bar.
Sunday he felt worse but soldiered on. Monday he could't go to work so went to the doctor and was tested. Covid-19, later ID'd as the Delta variety, our first community transmission in 169 days. The test results came in Tuesday morning and by midnight we were in a nationwide lockdown, 7 days for Auckland and the seaside area, three days for the rest of NZ.
Unfortunately the tradesman had been infectious since Thursday. Over the last two days of last week he had been in four private homes while working with a 20 year old apprentice.
On Sunday, the apprentice and his three flatmates, including a nurse and high school teacher, went out clubbing. All four were tested as close contacts and the result came back positive. Places of interest, where the infection can spread, now included hospital and a school. Another close contact also tested positive. Overnight one positive test became 6, although the wife, being vaccinated, has not yet tested positive.
Within 24 hours there were more than 20 cases, all linked to the first. Yesterday the infection was traced back to a returning tourist from Australia who had tested positive in isolation, had been moved to quarantine, and on Monday morning moved to hospital. No idea yet how the infection had spread out to the community.
My training day yesterday was canceled so I was back on the road. Traffic was sparse for a weekday. The first person I stopped lived in Wellington. He was two hours north heading another 2 1/2 hours away to pick up his son to take him back to Wellington for the lockdown.
"I have 48 hours to get home before the lockdown becomes final".
"No, if you are away from home you have 48 hours to get back, otherwise you lockdown where you are. If you are at home, you stay there"?
He was annoyed when told he either turns around or risks getting charged for breaching a health order.
The next one was going to take care of a personal client because, "His wife who usually works had to go out and feed horses 3/4 of an hour away". She had to drive 30 minutes to get to that client.
Finally there was the one who initially decided to shelter in place just out of Wellington, then decided to go home, but not by the most direct route because he "had personal belongings to pick up" way over on the west coast.
This morning, day 3 of the lockdown, there are reports of positive tests in Wellington, although these will not be officially announced until later this afternoon. At the same time most of us know the lockdown will be extended.
If there had been no cases outside of Auckland we may have gotten away with a 7-10 day lockdown elsewhere and 3-4 weeks in and around Auckland. My money is now that we will be locked down again for weeks.
In the meantime, last week I read how, in Sydney, there were so many cases that the city, the State of new South Whales and even Australia, was going to have to reconsider the elimination strategy and learn to live with covid in the community, just like the rest of the world. I remember thinking "I wonder when New Zealand will reach that same conclusion"?
Our government is still concentrating on elimination. Personally, I think that needs rethinking. As this week has proved, we can't keep covid-19 out of the country forever. We need to vaccinate, protect the vulnerable, and get on with life.
But then, what do I know? I am just a street grunt. No-one who makes decisions listens to me.
Last Friday afternoon (Kiwiland time) an Auckland tradesman and his wife went away to a seaside town for the weekend.
After dinner on Friday they retired to their hotel. On Saturday morning the tradie got up feeling ill. Instead of staying in he decided the weekend deserved him to "harden up" and enjoy it. So off they go to do the tourist thing, including a 2 hour dinner while watching an Australia/NZ rugby game in a crowded bar.
Sunday he felt worse but soldiered on. Monday he could't go to work so went to the doctor and was tested. Covid-19, later ID'd as the Delta variety, our first community transmission in 169 days. The test results came in Tuesday morning and by midnight we were in a nationwide lockdown, 7 days for Auckland and the seaside area, three days for the rest of NZ.
Unfortunately the tradesman had been infectious since Thursday. Over the last two days of last week he had been in four private homes while working with a 20 year old apprentice.
On Sunday, the apprentice and his three flatmates, including a nurse and high school teacher, went out clubbing. All four were tested as close contacts and the result came back positive. Places of interest, where the infection can spread, now included hospital and a school. Another close contact also tested positive. Overnight one positive test became 6, although the wife, being vaccinated, has not yet tested positive.
Within 24 hours there were more than 20 cases, all linked to the first. Yesterday the infection was traced back to a returning tourist from Australia who had tested positive in isolation, had been moved to quarantine, and on Monday morning moved to hospital. No idea yet how the infection had spread out to the community.
My training day yesterday was canceled so I was back on the road. Traffic was sparse for a weekday. The first person I stopped lived in Wellington. He was two hours north heading another 2 1/2 hours away to pick up his son to take him back to Wellington for the lockdown.
"I have 48 hours to get home before the lockdown becomes final".
"No, if you are away from home you have 48 hours to get back, otherwise you lockdown where you are. If you are at home, you stay there"?
He was annoyed when told he either turns around or risks getting charged for breaching a health order.
The next one was going to take care of a personal client because, "His wife who usually works had to go out and feed horses 3/4 of an hour away". She had to drive 30 minutes to get to that client.
Finally there was the one who initially decided to shelter in place just out of Wellington, then decided to go home, but not by the most direct route because he "had personal belongings to pick up" way over on the west coast.
This morning, day 3 of the lockdown, there are reports of positive tests in Wellington, although these will not be officially announced until later this afternoon. At the same time most of us know the lockdown will be extended.
If there had been no cases outside of Auckland we may have gotten away with a 7-10 day lockdown elsewhere and 3-4 weeks in and around Auckland. My money is now that we will be locked down again for weeks.
In the meantime, last week I read how, in Sydney, there were so many cases that the city, the State of new South Whales and even Australia, was going to have to reconsider the elimination strategy and learn to live with covid in the community, just like the rest of the world. I remember thinking "I wonder when New Zealand will reach that same conclusion"?
Our government is still concentrating on elimination. Personally, I think that needs rethinking. As this week has proved, we can't keep covid-19 out of the country forever. We need to vaccinate, protect the vulnerable, and get on with life.
But then, what do I know? I am just a street grunt. No-one who makes decisions listens to me.
