Life in our country, Aotearoa (New Zealand), has been in lockdown, Alert Level 4, since March 26, 2020.
For the first time in New Zealand’s history, the borders are closed to everyone in the world except for citizens and residents returning home.
By acting fast and decisively, there was the chance to slow the spread of the virus, stamp it out and eradicate it with the advantage of being on an island, isolated at the bottom of the world. With only 102 cases of the virus at the time, NZ was some way behind the majority of overseas countries in terms of cases.
New Zealanders living or holidaying overseas were encouraged to come home now before airlines cancelled flights. Those who chose to return home had to self-isolate for 14 days and were monitored by the police. Those that didn’t have adequate arrangements for self-isolation were assisted by the government.
When the numbers of Kiwis (nickname for people from New Zealand) returning daily had reduced to a manageable amount, the government made it mandatory for all those returning to be in quarantine for 14 days in hotels and the like, all organized by the government.
Lockdown – Level 4:
Stay at home unless you are an essential worker.
Work from home if you can.
Stay in your bubble.
No non-essential travel permitted.
Essential travel for grocery shopping, one member of your bubble to shop only, or collecting medicines.
Travelling locally to exercise, exercise with those in your bubble. Don’t travel 30 minutes to an hour to your favorite beach to exercise for example.
No hunting or tramping.
No motorized recreation such as quad biking, jet skiing.
No fishing from boats or land.
No mountain biking.
All these restrictions are in place to reduce the risk of the need for hospitalization from injuries that are incurred from doing these activities.
Public transport throughout NZ, regional air travel and ferries, are mostly restricted to those involved in essential services and freight. No international flights except for mercy flights to and from NZ.
Every day at 1pm, New Zealanders turn on their TVs or stream the live broadcast of the Prime Minister and the Director General of Health as they give their daily updates on the fight against the virus, hoping each day to see the numbers decline and for the lockdown to end.
My local country train station at Maymorn is not a bustling station by any stretch of the imagination. Not many trains pass through each day, but they do break the quietness of our rural area and are a normal reminder that civilization still exists. There have been no trains at all since Alert Level 4 was announced… this is probably one of the only obvious differences here.
My wife and I are located 40 minutes north of the nation’s capital city, Wellington. We are semi-rural on a two acre block of land. Life is very peaceful and quiet here. I’ve enjoyed being able to get on top of all the jobs around the home and yard while on lockdown. My wife is now working from home on her laptop during this time and we both will return to our offices once restrictions come down to Level 2. We take our dog, Milo, for a walk most days up the Rimutaka Cycle Track that winds its way up the hill and gives great views over the region. Here we come across another reminder of Covid-19 – a small sign placed on the gate at the entrance of the track to say “no motorized recreational vehicles allowed due to the virus” (see photo).
Rubbish still gets collected every Tuesday, the mail still gets delivered. From our location you could be fooled that no pandemic exists. That is until you run out of groceries then it’s a matter of grabbing the N95 face mask, rubber gloves and the ever-reducing bottle of hand sanitizer to make the trip to the supermarket. This is a 10 minute drive to the Countdown supermarket in Upper Hutt to join the single file line of people to enter the store. Each person queuing must stay 2 meters (just over 6 feet) behind the next. Only a small number of people are permitted in the store at one time. At the checkout, the checkout operators are now behind clear screens to protect them from catching the virus from shoppers.
I’ve been shopping for my elderly parents at the same time as shopping for my bubble. This means travelling 25 minutes down the motorway to Lower Hutt to deliver their groceries. On my way I pass road signs erected that state “essential travel only permitted”. Supplying the elderly with such items as groceries is permitted as they are not allowed to leave their homes at all during Alert Level 4. Other vehicles I notice on my drive to and from Lower Hutt are ambulances, trades people, trucks and other essential workers only.
We have now progressed to Alert Level 3 this week, extending Alert Level 4 lockdown for one more week. This is to allow the government to do random community tests around the country to see if there are any underlying community spreading of the virus, plus to give businesses time to prepare to return to work where possible.
At Alert Level 3, it is expected that half a million people will be able to return to work in jobs where there is no face-to-face contact, and public transport systems will start operating again in a safe manner. Life will be anything but normal, yet with people over 70 still confined to their homes. Drive-through takeaway food chains are opening, restaurants can provide takeaway meals through Uber Eats and the like, and large retails stores such as Mitre10, The Warehouse and gardening stores only operate click and collect or delivery services. No retail stores will open at Alert Level 3.
As a whole, we are proud of our country and the government’s response to this global pandemic. It could have been a lot worse, but people have listened and acted appropriately. As of yesterday, we had just three new cases announced and we will continue to work hard to keep those numbers dropping to nil per day, and effectively eradicate this virus from our shores.
Kia Kaha
David Morrison
