They are slowly and subtly taking away all our rights, training us to get used to progressive restrictions, many of them apparently not to be blamed on our leaders, but on the overall situation (which was allowed to escalate by the very same incompetent leaders). We are losing the right to work, the right to travel, the right to associate, etc. Soon there might be an assault on the right to access independent information. I lived in a communist country and I know how people can be tamed to comply like a flock of sheep in a paddock. The main driver is the need to secure food. Have you been to a supermarket lately? Have you seen cues and shortages like this before in your lifetime? When you fight to get access to food for your family, you forget to fight for your other rights. Just wait and see. (This is not only about our leaders and their tactics here in New Zealand, but about all leaders in the World who, out of stupidity, inexperience, greed, desire for power, or any combination of those, have allowed and encouraged this to happen.)
Be prepared to lose more of your freedom and be prepared to be happy about that
You might think that my opinions are exaggerated now, but in a few weeks you will see they have actually been very mild. We are witnessing a technical genocide. It’s not just the sick old people dying, we are also burying the future of our children.
Pressing the RESET button on all we used to know, on all we used to do, on all we used to be.
It’s like God or some unknown entity, be it Terrestrial or not, has this button and decides to reset humankind again after 100 years since the Spanish Flu.
Here in my own “bubble” I spent today working and looking out the window. There were more cars, more bikes, more people running or walking, it seemed like “back to normal within not quite normal” and I thought that the restrictions should be tougher and should be really enforced. Why should you be allowed to drive kilometres away from your home just to do you jogging routine in a nicer park or why should you go across town to walk your dog? What’s wrong with exercising in your immediate neighbourhood? Actually, in New Zealand most properties should be large enough for a stroll, as most have outdoor areas.
My wife went to her work and back. She saw no police car, but plenty of vehicles out and about. I know it was only the second day of our national quarantine, but we either do this or we don’t, there is no grey area. I would expect police with loudspeakers to be present and to enforce this lock-down a bit harder.
I detect in the official media the insinuation of the idea that the lock-down might take longer. I also detect that there is virtually no free voice to challenge some of the actions (or the inaction) of the Government.
People here still don’t get it!
More, many more cases in New Zealand today, a total of 368, with 85 new and one in intensive care for the first time. Yet people still don’t get it. We (some, too many) have this mentality:
It’s just a flu
It won’t affect me because I’m young and strong
It’s not here yet
It will be over in a couple of weeks.
This mentality will kill many and some of the dead will be close to us, some might be us. It’s like standing casually on the railway waiting for the freight train to run you over and saying “there’s not such a thing like e freight train”. Well, it actually is and it goes quite fast through Italy, Spain, the US and other places right now.
Of course, our country is isolated. That’s the general feeling – isolation will protect us. But I am afraid it won’t, because we used to be a hub for tourism, tenths of thousands of Kiwis returned form overseas in the past two months (largely unchecked), not to mention the international visitors and people on student or work visas, of which about 100,000 are understood to be trapped here (for their good, maybe). I give you a simple calculation:
About 80,000 people came to NZ after the outbreak in China, but during the outbreaks in Iran and Europe, plus North America and Australia.
No clear restrictions were in place, though quarantine had been imposed for the first arrivals from Wuhan, China.
Assuming that only 1% of the returnees in February and March were infected, which could be an underestimation, we might have 800 vectors roaming around NZ for a month or so.
If a contagion rate of only 1 to 1 (much lower than the actual spread of the Covid-19) occurred, we are facing at least 1600 loose cases, new vectors in the community. The cat has been out of the bag for too long and there might be many kittens in your neighbourhood already.
Apart from this, we are starting a fashion enterprise at home. My wife makes face masks and I market them. They won’t be cheap, as it takes about one hour to make one and they won’t offer much protection, maybe just psychological.
I’d rather see that RESET button be pushed again, so I can wake up and forget this nightmare altogether before the H A R D part hits us like a tonne of bricks. It could be just a matter of days.
I knew it and I expected it but somehow I was hoping that it will never come.
The first day of total lock down was easier than I thought due to work keeping me SO BUSY at home. Which was good. I didn’t stop for much food, it’s hard to have lunch when you have to cook & work, work & cook. Not to mention that these circumstances are not quite inviting, so I just had snacks. During my breaks I tried to improve my little improvised office, which is in the lounge, facing the street through two corner windows guarded by shades created by horizontal blinds. (I never paid attention to these details, I never looked out these windows much.)
What I could see in the street was 100% silence till about midday. Only my neighbour immediately across the fence decided to cut some trees with his chainsaw, not for long, just during my audio calls with the rest of my team. In the afternoon there was a massive invasion of cars (going shopping?), people walking (one of them wearing just socks), and bikers (more than I thought would be safe – but this country has a recent culture of positive discrimination towards bike-lovers). I also saw a courier doing a home-delivery. None of these people were wearing masks.
I stopped working to listen to the official announcements. One was significant, though the information was inserted in between redundant repeats (sorry for my oxymoron) of the same measures put in place. They have rationed subsidised medication, so, in essence, if you are sick, potentially old and surely vulnerable, you have to go out more often, thus being more exposed to this plague. To me, this indicates a clear shortage of supplies, maybe not now, but soon.
In fact, I expect more products to be rationalised and more restrictions to be imposed in the next few days. They have to sell these tough measures to us one at a time, to make them more palatable. Kiwis are used to a lot of freedom and this government (not my favourite in times of peace, but the only one to follow in times of war) has to tighten the noose more and more. Why? Because we are simply about to be hit by the tidal wave of infection.
Today we got to a total of 283 cases. It grows about 100% every two days. Still manageable, offering more time for preparations. In the South Island we only have 69 confirmed infections and no apparent cluster, while in the North there are at least two centres with clear community contamination. The cat is out of the bag and it has been like this for three weeks, I guess. We are part of an experiment, it almost feels like we are.
My wife has started on home-made face masks. Of course, we don’t have any special filters, so she is just using fabric. But the design is exceptional! It takes about one hour to make a mask, so we won’t be mass-producing but only save these unique creations for fashion shows.
Before I go to bed, just some quick considerations on what’s happening internationally: it is very clear to me that the World leaders have absolutely no clue, they throw money at this crisis left, right and centre, but they themselves get infected (Prince Charles confirmed positive). Money won’t run out, juts more of it will be printed. All symptoms of pre-war depression are there. We’ll see food rations or at least a huge reduction in the variety of products available to buy. Essential goods will be either short, or very valuable, or both.
In a war you don’t want to kill the enemy. No. A dead enemy gives you 1 point. You have to wound the enemy. A wounded enemy gives you 10 points because you take 1 soldier out of action and another group of 4 other soldiers to carry him, 1 driver to the hospital and a medical team of 4 there. Is this by design?
