Thread: Corona Virus

Originally Posted by Roverlord off road spares

some urban dwellers are going to die from starvation , they eat out all the time and don't know how to cook a meal.

We have No idea of what we are to do without our feed of Kentucky Fried once every couple of years

Originally Posted by windsock

Hi Bob,

The reality is not quite as dramatic as the definition of Level 4 would imply. When Jacinda Ardern bought that Level Warning system in (Levels 1-4) it was assumed we would raise and lower the levels according to what was happening, hence the definitions.

What has happened is characterised by the set of words used often lately from Govt, "Go hard, go early" in response. So, while our daily tally has increased by 50 as at 9.30 this morning bringing our total of confirmed cases to 205, there is currently only a very small number of known and confirmed community transmission. There are some 'probables' in that total as these 'probables' are people tested but not yet confirmed.

A vast majority of those 205 people have been linked directly to travel and so far only 5 cases are confirmed as community transmission. In saying that though, there are currently two 'clusters' reported yesterday and today, one from the Hereford Breeders conference in Queenstown, and one within Marist College in Auckland and these concern the health authorities but the decision to go to Level 4 at 11.59PM tonight was made on Monday. We moved from Level 2 to Level 3 when this announcement was made on Monday 23rd. The levels system was only implemented last week I think.

So, in terms of where we are at. Theoretically, we are trying to get ahead of this by shutting down early rather than waiting for the definitions of the levels to come to the fore. "Go hard, go early" (sounds like premature eja...) is the Govt strategy and that is the background context to our entering the Level 4 shutdown period. We will be shut down for four weeks. More time will be added if there is a need or if people break the shutdown.

I have just heard that a State of emergency has been declared giving our authorities additional powers to address any issues that arise in the shutdown.

Where I am at the moment, everyone is relatively calm and collected. Queues outside supermarkets of the last couple of days are more to do with the numbers allowed in the shop at any one time rather than huge rushes. Traffic is going a bit faster than usual I think and the old 110 was overtaken a lot more than usual today even though I was traveling at the limit. The NZ Defence Force is getting involved too in all this and I live between Ohakea Air Force Base and Linton Army Camp and so the military traffic is heavier than usual too. Palmerston North is a 'hub' city and a key distribution point for many wholesalers and good distribution and so every time I have been in a supermarket, shelves have always had stock on (rice and pasta being the only exception I saw) and people have had what appears normal grocery lists in their trolleys. Toilet paper was on the shelves. I saw a great cartoon today, picture a stockbroker on the floor of the share market. He was yelling out... "Sell coal, buy Toilet paper"!

Interesting times... Cheers, Phil

Gday Phil, yeah, all calm up here too. No sign of panic yet, but people have come to realise this is serious, and demands our attention. more and more strangers are acknowledging one another, whereas before they were all too busy in the big smoke. Funny how a crisis can bring people together. Found a great
tune from the 70's , I'll share it with you.


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