Month: April 2020

Day 9

Day 9

We’re all bouncing around in our bubbles in anticipation of the weekend. So what better way to start the weekend than with a Day 9 Cartoon? It’s fresh off the press, with full credit and thanks to Peter Bromhead, New Zealand’s pre-eminent cartoonist.

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Some milestones today: the first full work week ended, end of “week two”, and an entire hospital building at North Shore Hospital is being repurposed for, um, the patients.

Awkward questions about the economic impact started to flow more readily today. You read it here first on Day 0 of course! There was an awkward ministerial bike ride too. The Finance Minister announced a change in the law to allow companies that are going to fold as a result of the COVID-19 ban on business, to be provided with a “Safe Harbour” for their business’ debts until the ban was lifted. Sounds helpful.

So looking back so far, I started the Lockdown feeling quite anxious. How would I cope being cooped up all day, every day? It brought back memories of anxious flying – claustrophobia – and Air New Zealand’s “Flying without fear” Programme which I am a graduate of. I know from experience, that conditioning is a key element of facing fears and this week has proved that again. Tonight it feels serene, calm and in control. The ability to have daily walks has been incredibly important for my physical and mental well-being.

Anxietyometer: Very Low

Have a great weekend, don’t get pricked by the ‘rona!

Make sure you have a walk, maybe three and celebrate that we made it this far.

Stephen

 

Day 8

Day 8

It really is the weirdest of times. Tonight I had that slightly surreal feeling, similar to what you have when you wake up in Europe really early, time-zone confused, but wide awake. Feels like a new beginning.

Quite quickly it’s become a completely different work routine, meetings are almost all on time, everyone on screen, clothes increasingly casual – am I really wearing a Nike T-shirt to a business meeting? you know the one with the very large logo across the chest –colleagues opening bits of their homes to the team without any explanation. What even is work any more? Is this really happening?

Paris

There’s a documentary on Netflix The Next Pandemic, released in November 2019. The next pandemic will probably be a virus jumping from another species it says. Right. Bill Gates says on the documentary “We don’t know when the next pandemic will happen“. We do now!

Since SARS, scientists have been investigating bats in Southern China where it is believed that the virus started. Great work but it wasn’t bats this time. There’s work being done to develop a universal influenza vaccine but it’s said to be “years away”.

The next pandemic is inevitable, its said, but our technology has stopped a virus before, it says. One of the earliest uses of technology was during the Black Plague, when travelers were quarantined!

The story of COVID-19 is being told now. We don’t know where it will end, but it will end for sure. It will be a story of a virus that spread rapidly, with most people having no or mild symptoms. But when it struck bad it could be deadly, particularly to those over 70, or those over 60 with poor health. Most cases went undetected.

Global measures were implemented, but too slowly and inconsistently, to isolate people, but the quarantining of travelers was woefully inadequate and caused the global spread. Severe restrictions were shown to slow the virus’ spread in communities and eventually, after six months the virus faded and a vaccine was developed.

The political fallout was large. Governments all around the world were thrown out in elections that followed, not because the voters didn’t think they tried to do something, but because the economic impact was seen in hindsight, to be far greater than the problem. Ironically, one of the leaders who prevaricated for several weeks, but eventually acquiesced to strong internal isolation measures, was re-elected even though his country had the highest infection rate. President Trump went on to serve a full second term winning the popular vote, something he hadn’t achieved in his first election.

Whoops, just woke up again. Did I say I should be in Europe on my holiday right now? Barcelona at this very moment to be precise. Well lucky I’m not but I did have that time zone spaced out feeling for a moment like I was there.

I suppose I could be wrong in all of this.

Have a great day 9!

Stephen

Day 7

Day 7

You know on the late night American TV talk shows they take the mickey out of weird news items around the world. Right now, we’re probably lucky than there’s lots of other news.

Policing cauliflower pricing caught my eye and distracted me from what was otherwise another very busy day. All I could think of was mother’s white sauce and my stubborn refusal to eat the stuff! Much prefer Broccoli, but Cauliflower has gone very hot, so hot that we’re dobbing in the supermarkets for over-pricing. And that’s found its way to a press conference.

Other snippets from the press conference were that there were 61 new or probable cases with 2 people in serious condition and a further 12 also in hospital. Pretty soon, the entire New Zealand story on COVID-19 will be about two things: the border and the economy.

My local park had a relaxed pre Home-D feel about it this evening. Most people appeared ready to get back to normal life. What was being talked about today was the economic crisis that’s been created. This will almost certainly be the main conversation going forward, as we move to a more ordinary state of living and threat assessment.

Seven days! A whole full week and still going strong – felt a bit scratchy today – I think it was from too little sleep and non-stop video calls. A working from home challenge. And new ones will emerge. A friend tonight on a video glass of wine wondered how new people are integrated into the culture when everyone is working remotely. I’m not sure what the questions are on that one yet. But it’ll be a thing, with consultant methodology to go with it soon.

Eat ya veges!

Stephen

 

Day 6

Day 6

Today seemed lighter.

The sun shone all day, and work was busy, very busy from first thing until about 7pm. But there were walks for exercise and more freedom. We can now buy “essential” appliances, which means The Warehouse partially got their way. In other big announcements the Supermarkets will be permitted to open on Easter Sunday in a first, and we were warned not to flush “Wet Wipes” down the toilet!  Apparently they’re causing problems to the wastewater system, presumably that they weren’t causing prior to the Lockdown. Come to think of it I’ve never seen Wet Wipes at work, so that seems logical.

Despite the flashing red banners on every news site, breathlessly giving us advance notice of today’s COVID-19 developments, there wasn’t really much. 58 actual or probable new infections, but we were warned that the number would be greater when the increased testing comes through.  And  I guess all statistics, in every country are about who’s been tested.

The two statistics that probably aren’t so dependent on testing are those poor folk in serious condition, and deaths. They’re both still at, respectively, 2 and 1 in New Zealand.

Another figure came out today: 14,000 being the number of deaths we could expect without measures. At the time of the Lockdown it was 80,000, so we’re moving in a positive direction on predictions. I assume the Lockdown is a stunning success so far. Maybe it is!

Talk of the economic crisis increased today. My prediction is that before long the crisis will be talked of more or less only as an economic and social one. Long after the virus is beaten, we’ll be debating, suffering and trying to grapple with the new reality.

I received a sobering email from Air New Zealand’s CEO which reads “it is clear that the Air New Zealand which emerges from Covid-19 will be a much smaller and largely domestic airline with limited international services to keep supply lines open for the foreseeable future.” Welcome back NAC. Only a few weeks ago, it was discussing the launch in October of direct flights to New York. I found it a bit sad actually. I’m missing my regular flights and as a long term customer and shareholder, I’ll remain loyal and hopeful. Go Air New Zealand!

So it’s a sobering long term picture, which we’ll get through in time, but it will probably be a lot longer than we were all told to expect when the Lockdown was enforced.

So, for us individually, good humour, love and show some compassion to your neighbour, say hello on your walk to others – it’s a medical problem, we’re not North Korea – and continue to practice good mindfulness and breathing. Slow breaths in and longer – double the length – breaths out.

I’m hopeful that when I look back at this blog about wet wipes, published on April Fools’ Day, that we’ll go “hey they got us bad that day!”

Stephen