Issue #894

By David Gibbs - Queenstown Media Group

Do you remember Otago Anniversary Day three years ago?

At 1.30pm, Prime Minister Jacinda Arden announced New Zealand was moving to Alert Level 3, effectively immediately. And in 48 hours, the country would move to Alert Level 4 lockdown. A whole nation in self-isolation, borders already closed, once again an island cut off from the rest of the world, and now each other.

I remember some really strange feelings that long weekend, including a fair amount of anxiety. The next six weeks were extraordinary. We became glued to the one o’clock broadcast and saw hugely unsettling news from overseas, as the seriousness of the pandemic unfolded. I remember the scenes beamed from New York, where I once lived, of refrigerated morgues and tents set up in hospital car parks, to accommodate makeshift wards.

There were positives, though. Back then, it felt we were really united as a country and a community, just determined to get through it and look after each other. We got to know our neighbours more, there was little road noise, no airplane noise, nowhere to rush to. Pets were delighted to have us home all the time, kids enjoyed time off school. This whole new world or remote learning and working unfolded.

But for the majority, they were incredibly stressful weeks and months. This was Covid Alpha, the first variant, and appeared absolutely lethal. People were washing groceries before they brought them in the house. Kiwis were stuck overseas, a nightmare which would eventually lead to one of the most controversial Government policies: managed isolation and quarantine. Meanwhile, many foreigners were stuck in Queenstown, with no work, no way to get home, and initially no way to pay for food or rent. And for business owners the future looked absolutely bleak.

The speed the Covid protocols, the wage subsidy and business support packages were introduced, along with how quickly borders were closed, demonstrated when push comes to shove governments can actually do things at speed – who knew! What a shame the same can’t be said for the planning and execution for when borders re-opened, developing an ongoing staffing crisis that has impacted nearly every business across the country, particularly in this region.

Otago Anniversary Monday will always be seared into my brain as the day I was with friends having a brunch and watching the announcement. We all knew something was going to happen but none of us could have predicted what the next two years would hold.

Roll on three years and I attended Ripe in Wanaka last weekend, with a thousand guests from all over the globe, enjoying our wine and food providers, without a care in the world. It is almost ‘Covid - what Covid?’

Masks are rare once again, even when an average of 26 deaths are recorded a week due to Covid, a figure that used to be scary. It’s three years on and now feels a lifetime ago.