“All infectious diseases that are spread through the air, it’s going to be improved through better ventilation,” University of Otago public health expert Julie Bennett told Daalder.
#The visitor and the visitor returns how to#
The ever-superb Marc Daalder explores this in his recent Newsroom piece: “ Rethinking breathing: How to end the pandemic”. This is why being outside, and wearing masks, are such effective protections. Pre-symptomatic carriers who don’t feel ill, it turns out, infect others by breathing, speaking, laughing, singing, as viral particles – aerosols – float long distances on air currents, like cigarette smoke. Like Waiheke, the rest of New Zealand has bought itself time to benefit, not only from remarkable vaccines and anti-viral drugs but also from a better understanding of Covid-19. When Covid-19 raced around the world, it was thought to spread from visibly ailing coughers and sneezers through droplets and contaminated surfaces. Their personal best purchase included Tesla stock, a violin, guns and ammo, and trans-pride socks.Īs we are at the beginning of our own pandemic, I felt a pang at the question “If you could go back to last March, what is one tip you would tell yourself about surviving the rest of the year?” Answers ranged from the sad to the tragic: “Talk with grandparents more”, “Move to Alaska”, “Leave my girlfriend”, “Invest heavily in the stock market”, “the vaccine is coming”, and “it is airborne”. Under “New skills I’ve learned this year”, they reported self-waxing, making necklaces from buttons, raising chickens, the yoga Crow Pose and “taking care of Covid patients”. Americans admitted to bourbon, religion, blue corn tortilla chips, and “my shrink” as Covid coping mechanisms. In December last year, the New York Times published highlights from a semi-serious survey titled “How we got through and what we missed most: lessons from a pandemic year”. Jenny Nicholls: “My fringe needs cutting, and I’d like a drink with someone other than my partner.” The Gulf News, excellently, keeps a running total. As I write, just 778 islanders – 10 per cent of the eligible population – remain unprotected. In December, Waiheke will welcome throngs of holidaymakers. Although unpopular, it has bought us time to vaccinate hundreds of people, critically important given the difficulties of getting sick people off the island to hospital. The “border”, as we call it, looks likely to remain until Auckland adopts the traffic light system. Businesses are withering on the vine, although the birds seem happy – kākā are spreading noisily throughout suburban Waiheke. Under level 3, “non-residents” are not allowed to visit the island even for a day. Like any other tourist hotspot, Waiheke needs visitors, or it will go bust.
To this we can add one more painful (if local) lesson, just as obvious in retrospect. * Covid-19: Waiheke wants to break from Auckland's lockdown restrictions, move to level 2 * Covid-19: Positive case on Waiheke Island a close contact of existing case * Covid-19: Waiheke Island waits for answers after second positive case Googling the phrase “Covid-19 shines a light” produces pages of think pieces about all the things we can see more clearly under the pandemic’s pitiless beam – from the importance of Māori-led health initiatives to the state of our hospitals.Ī testing station on Waiheke last month, after a Covid-positive case visited the island.
It would be like calling Woodville “Palmerston North”. Auckland is somewhere else – overseas, for a start. To the Ministry of Health, the two cases are in “Auckland” – but to us they are on Waiheke, which is quite a different bucket of kina.
Two questions wafted over hedges and through fence slats: Who were they? And how did they catch it? Last week, Waiheke Island was briefly convulsed with reports of two unfortunate cases. In the kind of news we will all be getting soon, the virus has arrived, uninvited, in a street near me. Covid-19 is spreading in the North Island. It is 93 days since the beginning of alert level 4, and at least 100 since I have had a haircut. OPINION: As I write this, to paraphrase George Orwell, highly uncivilised viruses are flying overhead trying to kill me. Locals on Waiheke voice concern after the island records its first case of Covid-19.
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