The lessons of last time were there for the taking, and yet, by 9.30pm, there were queues out the Countdown doors. The carparks were overwhelmed. People were squabbling in the aisles, fussing over who got what.

It was a curious little insight into human nature, watching the pictures from supermarkets flooding onto Facebook and Twitter.

Last time we were in a lockdown... the government and health authorities told us there was no need to panic-buy. We wouldn’t run out of food or supplies. Supermarkets wouldn’t close. And yet we people panic bought.

Ok, so maybe they didn’t trust the government or the authorities. But you would think people would learn from their own experience. They would have known that yes, in a stricter lockdown... the supermarkets DID stay open. The supply chain for essential items wasn’t interupted. We got through.

And yet.. human nature dictated that the reaction to a fast-spreading highly infectious pandemic was to go and surround yourself with lots of other strangers in a supermarket queue. We’re funny creatures.

What did that last experience teach us? It apparently didn’t teach us the true value of contact-tracing. How many of us, honestly, have been logging all our public movements of the last three months? This is brutal, maybe. But I put myself at the top of the list: I think we’ve been too complacent... and honestly, a little smug.

What did that last experience teach our politicians? That’s an interesting question.

It obviously didn’t teach the opposition that a consistent, constructive message was of more social and political value than barking at errant passing cars. He’s tried to walk it back now, but Gerry Brownlee’s conspiracy peddling was far worse, I think, than the mistakes Simon Bridges made during the first part of the pandemic.

And actually, National shot itself in the foot. It blew a significant opportunity. Because there was a scandal of sorts just a day or two after Gerry Brownlee’s intimations... a pretty grave error on behalf of the government, that deserved massive scrutiny and criticism. But much of the credibility that National’s legitimate criticisms might have had, had instead been wasted away at the start of the week. 

What did the importance of border and quarantine controls teach us? Well... apparently not enough to make sure our frontline border workers were actually being regularly tested for Covid-19. It’s a stunning oversight, and I’m not surprised to see epidemiologists gobsmacked to learn that significant numbers of people in direct and indirect contact with people arriving at our borders haven’t been tested AT ALL... let alone consistently. Michael Morrah from Newshub and Derek Cheng at the Herald have done some excellent reporting on this outrageous. I know this is complex. I know there is a lot of bureaucracy, and systems that have been established in short periods of time. But the government simply hasn’t been meeting its own standards in testing people most likely to have Covid-19. That a case hasn’t slipped through that crack is good luck more than anything.

So here we are. Back at a heightened Alert Level. It’s by no means the end of the World. Hopefully we’re on top of it and it sounds like they’ve done a good job in testing and tracing over the last few days. But it’s worrying, and unsettling, and financially really concerning for a lot of New Zealanders.

Sadly though... even if we stamp out the spread from this cluster, the virus will likely come back in some form. So then... please... let us all start to learn from our mistakes.