Ed Said - Getting mad or going mad?

 

It looks like I spoke too soon and jinxed it, but now that it’s happened, I guess there was always a certain inevitability about the coronavirus resurfacing.

While we’ve celebrated stamping out community transmission of the virus for the last 100 days or so, allowing a constant stream of outsiders to come in – with some testing positive for the virus upon arrival – means there was always going to be a risk, somewhere, somehow.

But has the virus ever left us? The experts have been telling us just how tricky this thing is. Who knows?

Still in the jaws of Covid round two, Australians are becoming increasingly disgruntled and starting to play the blame game. The problem is, there’s no rule book for this game. The same is starting to happen here. There is speculation the Government knew a week ago about the latest positive tests. I doubt it.

Clutching at election straws, Judith Collins is accusing the Government of withholding information about the latest developments, and not consulting her or her party about decision-making over the latest lockdown. After sticking the knife into the Labour Party at every opportunity on the election campaign trail, I’m not sure the Prime Minister would be inclined to sit down with Judith over a couple of gin and tonics and talk pandemic tactics anyway.

Conspiracy theories abound. Everybody seems to have one. And many of them are heading into tin foil hat territory. Forget about the improbable moon landing, the second gunman on the grassy knoll, or flat earth theory – there are those that say coronavirus is simply fake, and those that say it exists for more subversive reasons.

New Zealand Public Party founder Billy Te Kahika is calling it a ‘plandemic’, believing that Covid is part of a global agenda of state control, and thousands here subscribe to his theories.

Ex-celebrity chef Pete Evans has warned his large Instagram following about the latest lockdown in New Zealand, accusing the Government of having an ‘agenda’ and planning future martial law. The only thing the former Master Chef host seems to be serving up these days is a large slice of fruit cake, washed down with a tall glass of crazy.

So, where to from here? Today is Friday, and at midnight tonight the Government will decide the next step – after we go to print. Everything depends on the contact tracing and testing done since this new lockdown was put in place. If more cases emerge, or the Government thinks there is need for containment measures, then an extension is more than likely. And by the time you read this of course, we’ll know the answer.

The great unknown is what the effect will be on the economy. Business owners are angry and disillusioned by this new reality. We probably all thought the first lockdown, though a shock, was a means to an end, so it’s equally distressing that we may end up in that situation again. One positive is that we now have a template for dealing with Covid, so action can be decisive, swift and effective. The Government also says it has funds left over for subsidy payments for this very eventuality, so there has obviously been some forward planning.

Word on the street is that most shoppers in town late last week were from out of town, which creates an interesting dilemma: Are permanent locals happy for Aucklanders to dodge road blocks and escape to their Mangawhai bolt-holes?

Let me know your thoughts. Stay safe.

Rich Pooley
Editor
info@mangawhaifocus.co.nz