I have a set of candles that we use on birthday cakes. These candles re-light themselves a few seconds after they are blown out, much to the embarrassment of the birthday person, while the onlookers burst into streams of laughter as the birthday person attempts, time after time, to extinguish the flame and get on with cutting the cake. Last month my mother happened to be the latest victim and she was out of breath after a few attempts. I sent the video of my poor mum giving up and me laughing out loud all through the video to my friends. One of them recently said to me “Covid is like that re-lighting candle”.

We are in the second weekend of Level 3 lockdown, round 2. And you wonder, if ordinary people think that way about Covid, why does our government insist on eliminating it? Surely, what has happened globally is a testament to the fact that Covid is here to stay, much like our cancers, the common cold and flu, the road accidents…all these things that kill people but we learn to live with it. Isn’t it the wiser thing to say, ‘hey – let’s find a way to live with this thing until we have a cure’?

Obviously, I do not like lockdown the second time around, and no, I did not take part in the recent anti-lockdown protest in Auckland. Back in March, a lockdown was novel, indeed, for a novel virus. And we did all we could to make our country safe. But then we declared victory much too early, with too much ego and pride, only to have the candle re-light itself. But are the onlookers laughing? Well, Donald Trump is, but that’s another story.

Our poor, our vulnerable, our friends and family who suffer from mental health issues, our small business owners, our domestic violence victims, our post-natal depressed mums stuck in the house with a young baby and screaming kids (because daycare centres are closed), while dad goes to work because they need the money, stuck in a situation where she can’t ask for support due to lockdown restrictions and the safety of the newborn…do you hear their laughter?

It is amazing that there are strongly-held views that the current approach by our government is good for the country. It may be good for certain egos – ‘we did it once, we can do it again’ and we can be back on the global stage wearing our badge of ‘Covid Eliminators’. But at what expense? To kick the poor in their guts again and undo some of the rebuilding of livelihoods that were starting to happen post-round 1?

We knew that it was one family, with the initial 4, now just below a 100. Against a population of 1.5 million in Auckland. For the sake of 100 (or less) we subjugate 1.5 million Aucklanders to restrictions on work, on life, on bouncing back from job losses and unemployment. Why does Dunedin for example, which is so far from Auckland and no one from the original cluster travelled there, have to live life at level 2?

Surely, the Covid Eliminators had the capabilities, as demonstrated in the last few weeks, to effectively contact trace and restrict movements of close contacts of the original cluster, without making the whole country move back into lockdown scenarios.

When we blew out the candle the first time around, we became proud and complacent, me included. We were so eager to cut the cake and be joyous about our celebration that we ignored the re-lighting ability of the candle. It will keep on relighting and like my dear mother, we will eventually run out of breath trying to unsuccessfully blow out the candle. We never reached the ‘new normal’ after round 1.

It’s time to learn to live with the novel virus, for long-term sustainability of our livelihoods, including those which continue to struggle thanks to the reactive lockdowns. We can craft a new ‘new normal’ if we put our egos and pride aside and accept that Covid cannot be eliminated until there is a vaccine.

We have 5 million Kiwis who have the answers…somewhere between the two extremes of wanna-be Covid Eliminators and those who refuse to wear masks, we can find the long-term answers. We can look deep within ourselves, our whanau and our communities to craft a new way forward that involves living safely alongside Covid. Let that be the message to eventually broadcast on the global stage.

Vikashni Moore

August 23 2020

See more:

http://themoorestory.com/index.php/2020/09/12/the-uninvited/

http://themoorestory.com/index.php/2020/08/30/elimination-isolationist/