BEVS

I so agree. Like a non-stop, nonsensical, scratched stuck record isn't it.

chocolate cake

It’s reassuring to know things are fine still in la la land.

Pom_Chch

Great thank you for asking. Today I am tramping and then out for dinner with friends. Doing normal life activities with no fear nor worries about the virus. I'm not sure what or where la la land is. But I know NZ has one of the lowest death rates, low community transmission and our health system hasn't been pushed beyond its limits with COVID patients waiting in a mile long queue to be treated. If that's la la land then it's not so bad.

Enjoy your day chocolate cake 🙂

Bo-Jangles

That's rather insensitive of you because we all know COVID is just an Auckland thing right?

Auckland has been in lockdown for ten weeks to buy the rest of the country some time to get vaxxed, so wholly disappointing to to see so many ****wits out there in the rest of the country really not giving a shit and having no fear or worries, until it's right on on their doorstep. Canterbury still has 93,000 more second doses to go but at least that is now set to speed up with a few cases popping up down there.

scrubbedexpat094

And it's an Aucklander's fault if the virus gets out and about. I loathe this "othering" that is going on and that the PM seems to be encouraging. The south island/ the north island, vaxxed/antivax etc. I believe that people should be vaccinated if they can be but it's not for me to judge those that choose not to. Berating such folk doesn't make them want to be vaccinated, if anything it makes them more entrenched in their anti-vax views. As a midwife I've always advocated for " Your body, your baby, your choice." I feel the same about vaccinations. As long as people are given the facts to make an informed choice then it's up to an individual to weigh up the risks and benefits as they see them. For some, that decision may turn out to be the wrong one but that's up to them.

Given that the virus can be transmitted just as easily by those that have had the vaccination, as Charismatic pointed out above, this vaccinated/unvaccinated apartheid is a nonsense.
I'd like to hear what the Government are doing about vaccine boosters. My former midwifery colleagues in Auckland are getting rather twitchy about this as they had their vaccinations back in March/April. They feel like they are sitting ducks.

Tom H I'm still in MIQ but I was moved from the Sudima to the Commodore Hotel. The former was incredibly traumatic for me and triggered an event from my youth and in turn PTSD.
Now I have a balcony and can access fresh air 24 hours a day. The food is fabulous here too, so I've no need for Ubereats. No early release for me, so should be flying home on Thursday all being well.

Charismatic

Vaccine uptake in New Zealand has been on par with our OECD peers overall. As Auckland shows however even with high rates of vaccination we'll still get waves in New Zealand as the virus spreads.

Tom H

It's a shame that there are people out there like that. I have nothing but thanks for what yourself, Chocolate_Cake and the other Aucklanders on here given what you are going through. You do not need to provide evidence regarding the situation you're in. I welcome Chocs rants about the failed opportunities we had, I welcome your coolness about being happy with the situation you're in. Hopefully you'll be out of level 3 asap so that you can have some sort of normality back and that we can pop up and distribute money into Aucklands economy.

Even if I disagree with some of the stuff that's written, so what, we're all in it together.

I'm so happy to hear this. Commodore is such a better place to be in. MIQ will be a thing of the past soon, thank goodness. I hope you can get home by the way, are you in Wellington or Auckland? Just a colleague of mine is stuck down here for the long forseeable future as he can't get a flight back up to Auckland at all, at the moment. He's double vaccinated as well

I'm also in agreement with you about the road we're going down. I don't particularly want an us v them country where I cannot enjoy normal life unless x percentage of people are vaccinated. The ones I feel for are the ones that cannot have the vaccine because of medical reasons. So far, there hasn't been that much information provided about how their lives will go from when this traffic light system comes into effect (if it ever does that is). I hope there will be more information being provided when that time comes.

I have seen some businesses (Torpedo 7 I think were one) already inform that they will be open to vaxxed and non vaxxed people. Whether that'll still happen is another thing.

Anyway, looks like we'll be hitting our 90% target six days after Auckland.

Bo-Jangles

Looks like Canterbury must have had a good turnout for vaccinations this past few days (amazing what a few cases out in the wild does) but is still the highest number in absolute terms with 81,252 still to go to reach 90%

The ones that bother me the most are Waikato, Lakes (Rotorua / Taupo) and Northland which are not predicted to get there until sometime in January and that's pretty much everywhere within a reasonable driving distance of Auckland and means Christmas holidays are most likely stuffed for most Aucklanders who would normally be planning to head out to the Coromandel and up North for the holidays. A further three weeks staycation at Stopathome, with all online shopping and courier capacity already fully maxxed out and no shops, bars or restaurants open is going to be a nightmare.

cyndi2

[QUOTE=Bo-Jangles;13067316]Looks like Canterbury must have had a good turnout for vaccinations this past few days (amazing what a few cases out in the wild does) but is still the highest number in absolute terms with 81,252 still to go to reach 90%

Canterbury had to have the slowest rollout in the country so it seemed. At least our town was terrible. We live in Ashburton and it's not the smallest place or even remote. We got the phone message on the 2nd of July with reference numbers that we could book, and we were supposed to be in vulnerable group. OH got put on hold so I went onto the website we were given, the first available appts were the 6th Sept and 2nd jabs for the 27th. The book my vacc thing that was being talked about wasn't working for here because you had to have those ref numbers. At that time there was only one pharmacy and one medical practice doing the vaccs. It wasn't a case of the people around here hesitating you just couldn't get a bloomin' appt. The best thing that happened was the super Saturday event where every medical practice and pharmacy were included at last and really it's never slowed down since. We're also surrounded by Dairy farms, daughter and son in law are share milkers and they've just finished calving season, busiest time of the year requiring all hands on deck. Trying to get everyone on the farm into town to be jabbed has been a job because again very few walk in places till just lately, their farm just yesterday are now fully vaccinated. I'm sure the 2 cases that happened here did spur the stragglers on but honestly don't think the majority of people were hesitating. Anyway you guys up there stay safe and most of us are thinking about you and thanking you, and when things get back to anywhere near normal you're always welcome to come and visit. Not that Ashburton is the greatest place to visit hahaha.

Bo-Jangles

Well at least we're now set to have shops opened next week!

Not that I'd be fool enough to go anywhere near, it will be absolutely mental after three months of being closed.

BEVS

Yes. The mobile vax vans / buses / campervans have been a real help down here. It hasn't been possible for quite a lot of folk to actually get to a vax centre. Dairy farms & sheep stations. The munted West Coast which poor folks over there have been truly suffering very badly since last July ; many with their homes destroyed , no transport etc . Golden Bay with the everlasting roadworks to the one road in and out. As you wrote , it isn't about folks hesitating . It's been about the practical logistics on many levels.

BEVS

Glad to read it. If you had to go down with covid & so a move from isolation to quarantine , better surroundings & nursing care was very much needed. Recover soon . Your fellow is waiting for you.

BEVS

....& that said it very much was and is.
To be clear, & as I have been before, it is the never ending anti-anything-government political posturing . The automatic adversarial stance no matter what . Moaning and groaning. That is what does my head in.

....and there you go again.

No-one wants Auckland or any part of NZ for that matter to be in an everlasting level 3 lockdown. No-one wants everlasting lockdowns & restrictions but it's needed right now. Not just little tiny NZ but globally. Everyone. Access to a vaccine for all & time to make that happen. Not some getting several jabs and others dying or being disabled for being without.

For the record and it is actually no-ones concern but for myself and my husband, we are not in some South Island sparkly ivory tower. We have been adjusting to half what our income was for the past 16 months, since June 2020 & believe me that is a tight budget . That is , in the main, due to a knock on effect of this pandemic . That isn't about to change now so we make the best here in NZ now - forever.

Our plans for the next phase of our lives, with arrangements all in place for the Sept 2020 & a final move last April 2021 could not happen then thanks to this pandemic and now due to the above is scuppered & will not now happen at all unless something amazing somehow appears or happens ----> it won't.

We have someone dead from Covid and her brother impaired with long covid and now with a collapsed lung. That is their reality. Early 50's/no underlying conditions. Goodness knows if we will ever see him or others we care for again. Finances now dictate, even if international travel opens up.

My husband has a shadow on his lung from a rather bad pneumonia not properly diagnosed at onset, contracted during his trade years here in NZ. He volunteers with Civil Defence to help people. He is double jabbed . That does not stop me being concerned about him being exposed to this invisible silent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and what that might mean. Oh and my vax was end of last April & now on the wane.

So you see, my personal fine and dandy is for life, not just until Christmas. My la la land the past 18 months has been somewhat fraught with worry, concerns , loss , adjustment. A reality not from the pages of a newspaper or seen on the TV .

Perhaps certain sections of NZ have been too sheltered from some realities, thanks to the amazing great job this govt and the public health advisors have done for us all. Maybe if more had faced bereavement or seen someone with long covid struggle, rather than just hearing about a few anonymous cases belonging to someone else - a bit more personal pain - would bring about some caution & care of others than our own selves. Of course there is more out there than covid that maims and endangers lives but throwing people under a bus when that could be avoided with a little personal restriction & care should not be so hard really.

Restrictions and lockdowns are not fun but they are not illness & disability. They are also not forever, unlike death.

It has only been 18 months . Recovery from injury and diseases can take far far longer . In my case one time it took about 7 years , so you see I am never ever going to understand putting fun and $ over health and well being.

Meanwhile Mr and Mrs BEVS are not sitting around renting their cloth and bewailing their lot. They are looking for a little sunshine every single flipping day & figuring out what other plan for the next few years there might be out there . Corny I know.

spouse of scouse

Fantastic post BEVS.

cyndi2

We also have a friend back in England suffering from long covid it's been a heck of a 14 months for her and she had to be the most healthy person I know. She has done the Great North Run every year ever since it began. My SIL's cousin died of it quite early on, her underlying condition was being a frontline nurse only 46........... My husband will be having his 3rd Jab in about a month, 8 weeks after his 2nd jab, which is recommended for anyone who has been through a stem cell transplant within the past 24 months. Having Lymphoma was not something he actively went out and looked for and caught, and I'm not ready yet to cash in on the life insurance. I'm grateful that there are people out there who think of others and not just themselves too, and it's nice to hear that once you've been double jabbed and then getting covid isn't too bad. We will take every precaution we have to and hopefully fingers crossed things will be so much better next year and we'll be able to meet up with our friends from the North Island at Warbirds over Wanaka again. Missed that so much last time.