I could not be more pleased for the hundreds of Auckland businesses that can, at last, try and deal to the damage that has been foisted upon them as a result of two months of what I think most now would argue, was yet more needless knee jerk overreaction from a government whose most effective policy has been fear.

If this is the way we handle a small localised outbreak, then we are in trouble, if not sunk.

The government were right to say we must expect some cases. The danger, in case we have forgotten, is they still don’t know how the original cluster broke out.

It was the border, of course, despite their many attempts to tell us it could be all sorts of things from frozen food to the port, it will have been an isolation facility.

All these months later if they're still climbing out windows with sheets, I think we can safely say it was lax security of some sort. And given they have no evidence otherwise, they can't say it isn't. And interestingly, or perhaps disappointingly, they still refuse to take the Australian approach which is to keep people in their rooms.

Further adding to the danger is the fact that Auckland is the arrival point, so any further problems or weaknesses will be in Auckland. So if Auckland gets two months' worth of level 3 and 2.5 every time we get a leak, then one can only imagine the damage.

This, once again, highlights the real overarching problem. Given we overreacted, given a small outbreak is level 3 and two months of economic damage, and given there is little to stop it happening again, surely it has now become painfully obvious to everyone that short of a vaccine, there is no plan. There is no ability to function at any level of normality.

This government has two levers it pulls. Lockdown and welfare with borrowed money. And even that lately has been cutback. 

The stuff that could help economically from New South Wales and South Australia, to international students, to private facilities for isolation, they don’t want to know.

It's lockdowns and welfare. And the economic carnage, whether it be the GDP figure, the “for lease” signs in the windows, or the ghostly absence of people in downtown CBDs, this is the real result of the so-called health response.

For now, those directly affected by level 1, those that need crowds, movies, performances, shows, sports, events, and community gatherings, enjoy it, spend up, support those that need it, give some hope and life to those who have been at the mercy of the fear mongering.

Because like last time, and given what we now know about the response, the good days of open doors and a sort of normality are precious, fragile and, too often ,short lived things.