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Tim Dower: Was the lockdown a sledgehammer to crack a nut?

Author
Tim Dower,
Publish Date
Fri, 5 Mar 2021, 9:49AM
Photo / NZ Herald
Photo / NZ Herald

Tim Dower: Was the lockdown a sledgehammer to crack a nut?

Author
Tim Dower,
Publish Date
Fri, 5 Mar 2021, 9:49AM

In the past week I guess we’ve all been through that Covid rollercoaster again.

Shock first, at the news of the new lockdown, jeez really, again?

Exasperation at the details that followed, seriously, you went to work at Kmart and KFC, oh come on!

Frustration at people who won’t respond to six or more calls from contact tracers, anger at some puffed up kids thinking they’re too good to be tested.

Relief, as the daily Covid tallies come out, no new community cases, no new cases today, and so on.

And now hope, at the end of the week, as we wait for Cabinet’s call on ending the lockdown.

That’ll come at 4 this afternoon. Let’s just hope.

The Government says as always it’ll make the decision based on the best and latest science that’s available.

And I trust that.

But what I'm beginning to wonder is whether that science is keeping up.

And there are a couple of questions I’d like answers to.

If these new variants, the South African one that popped up in Northland and the UK one that’s emerged in South Auckland, if these are so much more transmissible, how come no-one’s catching it?

And since we have evidence of a person at large, actively in the infectious stage, romping around in a gym huffing and puffing and sweating the place out, how come no-one else has caught it?

What’s different about New Zealand, or New Zealanders, are we less susceptible than the poor Brits, or the Americans for some reason?

Is it the time of year, the season, or, and this isn’t a joke, are we just cleaner than other populations?

Obviously, I’m not saying I want to see more people sick, but I am looking at the devastating impact of lockdowns and I’m asking myself, is this is a sledgehammer to crack a nut?

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