New Zealand and Corvid-19 Epidemic:
A Personal View

Norman Simms

Small island nations at the bottom of the world have an advantage in times like these. We can quickly lock down all the ports, harbours and airports and filter overseas people in through quarantines, self-isolation and regular testing. We have the advantage, too, ln New Zealand, of a government we can trust and understand that they mean to do the best for all citizens and residents, and to ensure that as much as possible jobs are secured by quick and efficient payment of subsidies and small and middle sized businesses kept afloat with further subsidies, low interest loans, mortgage holidays and so forth. With very few exceptions, everyone—what the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern calls the team of five million—accepts the constraints and obeys the rules.

The call has been not only for the government to come in early and come in hard to stem the spread of the disease, but for everyone to look after each other, to be kind and gentle. Newspapers, television notices and even highway signs promote this call for working together to keep everyone safe and healthy. Daily broadcasts of the PM and the Director of Public Health, as well as occasional other responsible figures, keep everyone up-to-date on how the measures are working, what further needs to be done, and how close we are coming to seeing the end of most restrictions.  There are many questions and long discussions.

At 11:59 Monday night, 26 April, we passed from Level 4 to Level 3. With new cases trending down to single figures, the number of deaths very low at under twenty, and only eighteen people in hospital, we are looking forward to another decision soon on whether to risk another easing off to Level 2. That will open up schools, shops, restaurants and malls, but that will likely be implemented over a long period and gradually. Safety is the key issue.

For more than a month and a half, New Zealanders have been to stay in their “bubble,” family and friends they live with. While it is permitted to shop for essential groceries and other goods, to take walks for fresh air and exercise, and for some to work at their essential jobs, it is best to stay at home, keep safe and wait out the pandemic. Hospitals and doctors’ surgeries are still open for non-coronavirus medicine, as are pharmacies, and in emergencies dentists are available. Anyone experiencing domestic problems is advised to get out quickly and contact proper refuge centres. Food and care are available for those in need. Many neighbourhood, student and charitable groups have organized themselves to care for the elderly, isolated and unable to care for themselves during the crisis. Special attention is given to Maori, Pacifica and other minority communities. As with the response to the mosque massacres in Christchurch last year, the nation has pulled together: Kia kaha! Be strong! We are all in this together!

Level 3 has been distinguished from Level 4 by allowing more people into one’s bubble, such as a child, other relative or live-in caregiver. The regulations permit driving within the region instead of just neighbourhood, and gives the right to swim and fish, provided they are in safe places; that is, no use of boats or other equipment.  Hunters and duck-shooters can go out on private land. Safety becomes the operative word, rather than just essential. So stores, restaurants and other commercial activities may open, with the required observance of social-distancing, non-contact payment and outside deliveries. Funerals and weddings may take place, but with ten or fewer people attending. Childcare centres and schools will have children through to grade ten if their parents are both essential workers, but it is better to keep your kids at home for home schooling, and parents should where possible work from home. Those over 70 may go to parks and beaches for short sessions of exercise, again so long as they keep two metres apart from other groups and keep safe.

Level 2 will do away from bubbles and allow travel throughout the country, except for e vents that involve crowds of more than one hundred people. Most people will be able to go back to work and most children return to schools.  Some businesses will probably not be able to go on after the long lock-down, and many individuals will lose their jobs; but the government is doing all it can to soften the blow, extending unemployment insurance, offering mortgage holidays, and forbidding landlords from throwing people out on the street who are late paying their rent.  The government, after all, is headed by the Labour Party.

It is also likely that overseas travel will be restricted for a long time to come, perhaps several years; although there are plans afoot to establish a joint bubble with Australia, allowing people to go back and forth across the Tasman without a necessary two-week quarantine on either side. Business and commerce between the two nations will pick up again as the restrictions are eased off. Despite long-standing sporting rivalry and tensions over why kiwis do not receive full welfare benefits when they migrate across the Ditch, the old Anzac nations remains strong, and most Australians and New Zealanders look on each other as cousins.

One of the hardest things to endure throughout the long period of closure in New Zealand has been the rules that close hospitals to all visitors, especially for those patients with coronavirus and near death. Close relatives have almost consistently expressed their thanks to nurses, doctors and care-givers who have acted as intermediaries with the loved ones, but many have also felt the separation at such times as painful. The Arden government has recognized this, and called for a parliamentary inquiry into revising the regulations, particularly after a few court cases ruled that grown children should be allowed to farewell their aged parents during the final hours of their life.  This regulation is now eased somewhat, with one family member to be in attendance in the final moments.  Almost all who have passed away have been elderly, frail and suffering from underlying medical conditions. The other deaths—and the total in early May stands at 21—are associated with overseas travel, directly or indirectly. There has been very little of transmission of the disease within the general public.

Anyone arriving in New Zealand from overseas, including citizens returning on so-called rescue and mercy flights from India, Peru and elsewhere, have either have had, if they show no symptoms, to go into isolation for two weeks in hotel accommodations provided by the government or, if they do show symptoms and test positive, stay in special quarantine facilities under state supervision. Through a system of telephone and personal checking up, everyone connected with these returnees or local people who form clusters of vulnerability, the spread of the disease is monitored, and already has been greatly thwarted.  Given the long incubation period before symptoms appear and the high percentage of people who remain infectious even while asymptomatic or having recovered from Corvid-19, it is likely that special emergency provisions will have to stay in place for many months, if not years. Too much remains unknown about the nature of the virus and whether or not those who recover are immune to further infections. Better safe than sorry.

During the Corvid-19 emergency, the New Zealand (unicameral) Parliament is reduced to a small representative group, managed by the Leader of the Opposition. Cabinet meets online regularly. The emergency regulations have to be renewed from week to week, and plans are being set for a larger meeting of the House of Representatives as soon as the virus is better under control. The September national elections will take place, with electronic home voting as much as possible.

Those who know me are aware that I have often over nearly fifty years complained about the social loneliness and intellectual isolation I have experienced in New Zealand. But in the last few months, my views have had to be revised. The way the government has behaved in a decisive and transparent manner has been admirable, and the maturity of the general public under trying circumstances has been a marvel. Rather than dreaming of being elsewhere, I am glad we are here. It also seems like a good thing if family and friends would come here on a more or less permanent basis, as soon as such things are possible again. There are certainly few signs that America, Israel or Europe will recover quickly from the damage done by the virus, the economic recession, and the political faults revealed at most levels of government.

For Americans like myself and my wife who have lived in New Zealand for fifty years, it is hard—and distressing—to understand what is going on in America, which seems at a loss as to how to control the disease or to prepare for a recovery based on major changes to the structure of the health-care system, the educational institutions and the economy. We find it most sad to watch events in a place where we still have many relatives and friends. We fear for their safety and health during this period of pandemic. The current administration in Washington, DC and those in many states seems totally inadequate for the job: they are confused, unfocused and hostile to rational solutions. 

And it also very sad to see the high rates of infection and death in Europe where we also have many friends and colleagues. We wait, it seems in vain, for the European Union and the United Nations to step up their efforts to create a united front against the global current health crisis and looming economic disaster. What is likely to happen in Africa, South America and South-East Asia is truly frightening, unless the World Health Organization can be beefed up to come to their aid. Petty nationalism and ideological squabbling are totally out of place at a time like this.