March Marches On

Covid Kahu initially refuses to come to the door or even talk to me. He's become house bound, his nose and every other part of him staying within limits. I tell him to get James as I want my food containers back. By the time I leave, and he's eaten some leftovers, he's a bit more grateful and cheerful.

Sharyn tricycles over on Saturday but she's tipped over on the way, hurt her foot and won't stay. I'm worried about her and offer to drive her home but she's adamant she wants to get herself and her tricycle back to base. In the evening I visit Chris who unexpectedly cooks. We ring Sherry who is comfortable with just the two of us and comes over. She needs to work and is afraid of getting Covid but trusts our germs. I wouldn't trust me; I'm working in the pea soup of Covid. With a mask but a very ineffectual one. 

We meet at OGB in the Square on Sunday. Someone has made a long overdue start on Cathedral earthquake repairs. Hope there's not another big earthquake for a while but the delay has been shameful. Jorge gets a bit tetchy about the book case in his room, touched off by a plug not working and the lack of space he has beside his bed to plug things in. I'm prepared to put my foot down, having had flatmates for whom I have compromised too much in years past. It's my house and I'll sort it how I want. Bertie goes to a lot of trouble and gets a wooden strip up so the book case is straight and stable. I unpack some books at long last.

It's another grey week of grey swims. I'm longing for long overdue autumn sunshine. Everywhere else in New Zealand seems to be getting it. I've got blue sky envy. To boot, there are cool winds. But my tomatoes keep producing and Thursday drinks keep us sane. Albeit with thick coats. 

The Covid curve is flattening nationwide but climbing in Canterbury. We have been later getting cases and have a long way to catch up with Auckland. 

24th March, Covid, New Zealand

Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield says there are 18,423 new community cases of COVID-19, 913 people in hospital and 11 new deaths.

It comes ahead of changes to the traffic light system on Friday night, including the removal of outdoor gathering limits and the use of QR code scanning.

2:05pm - It has just been announced that the MIQ booking system is being decommissioned as New Zealand's borders reopen. Here's what MIQ had to say:

With New Zealand now reopening to the world and MIQ winding down, the MIQ voucher booking system is being decommissioned, says Head of MIQ Chris Bunny.

"This is a natural next step in the scaling back of our operations. With fewer people now needing to come into MIQ, the voucher booking system just isn’t needed anymore," he said.

 "Most travellers entering New Zealand will be able to self-test on arrival. MIQ will only be used in limited circumstances, — for example, for some maritime and international air crew. In those circumstances, the voucher booking system will no longer be necessary," he said

"Without vouchers we also no longer need a system for emergency allocations of vouchers or time sensitive travel allocations, so those systems are being decommissioned too. From Friday 25 March 2022, MBIE will no longer accept any new emergency allocation or time sensitive travel applications. 

At its height, the equivalent of Kaiapoi’s population passed through managed isolation each month: 12,600 people in 9000 rooms every 28 days. Mr Bunny says MIQ played a critical role - preventing Covid becoming widespread through communities while giving people a way to return home. 

Meanwhile in Ukraine

It's been one month since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. As Thursday draws to a close in Kyiv and in Moscow, here are its key developments:

Russian troops have been unable to advance on the capital of Kyiv. To the east, Ukrainian forces pushed back some Russian soldiers; to the northwest, Russian forces are digging in to defensive positions, according to the Pentagon. In southern Ukraine, Russian troops had overrun Kherson and Melitopol, but face civilian protests. The key port city of Mariupol remains under siege. Russia's military continues to rely on artillery and bombs, including long-range attacks from ships.

The war has displaced more than half of Ukraine's children and a quarter of the overall Ukrainian population. Some 2.5 million children have had to relocate inside Ukraine, and more than 1.8 million more have crossed into other countries as refugees, according to UNICEF.

Almost 3.7 million people have fled Ukraine, according to the U.N. refugee agency. The United States pledged to accept up to 100,000 Ukrainians and other displaced people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine.

Storage

We slide into autumn and the sea level swells. I go to Taylor's with Robyn where the water all but obscures ships on the horizon and draws back so far it feels like there's a tsunami on the way. It's fun riding in on the waves but I'm careful not to go too far into the foaming waves. Taylor's is good place to end a hectic work week. We've been teaching the same units in English so if we go off sick we can easily pick up someone else's load, as well as preparing work for hybrid learning, as well as teaching classes where there are higher than normal absences. It's super busy and stressful. I stub my toes at Robyn's and limp for the next two weeks.

Kahu gets Covid so he and James have to isolate for a week at home. Used to be longer but the country was shutting down. We have rapid antigen tests now and can use these to determine Covid or not status. Reasonably accurate as we administer these ourselves, or not. It's a guess as to how many people are willing to do this as they need to keep food on the table and/or are asymptomatic so don't bother testing. So I drop off a food box....Mum food from the fridge and fresh veges. 

Bertie settles in with Jorge with Tina. Is this a good thing? On Monday we begin hybrid learning which means all our juniors are doing the same lessons on computer. We stand in front of them and facilitate, no direct tuition. It feels easier and the pace has calmed down. Phew. 

Meanwhile I get a friend of a friend to tile the ensuite splash back. The first of a backlog of finishing off jobs. And I tackle garage storage by making a collage of images from the internet to get ideas. A job for Pete and Zeban. I start to feel more in control as rent comes in and I start to stockpile money to get this last stage of the house done. The extra cash starts to take the pressure off; at the same time the cost of living is going up and people at the lower income end can't keep pace with inflation so struggle to put food on the table,

I have grey swim after grey swim. But the water is refreshing and cleansing. Thursday comes and Eat My Shorts practises in the living room with the doors open to avoid Covid. It's St Patrick's day and Bertie's birthday.

The House Fills Up

Jorge is at home all day on ACC from a motor bike accident. He has plenty of time to think about things and sensibly decides we need another fridge. Of course he has a Uruguayan friend who works in refridgeration. Sorted in 5 minutes. He's easy to get used to living with but I need to sort out the cupboards. And the garage. Judith arrives on Saturday and helps. I'm grateful as I've lived with stuff in boxes for so long it's hard to see the wood for the trees. She gets rid of my glass bottle stash.

Social bowls is the order of the week at PHS and I skipper an English team. It's hot and I swim at Taylor's where there are so many jelly fish eggs I can scoop them up with my hands. It's like swimming through lumpy, gelatinous sago pudding. Another climate change, change along with warmer sea water. It's Covid quiet so I invite people over for a dessert, film party on Saturday to avoid house bound syndrome. Tina arrives on Sunday with a hiss and a roar. She's lively, talkative and anxious about her new job at Harcourts Gold. I'm sure we'll hear more. Bertie designs and makes a wedge to put behind the book shelves which are going in Jorge's room which will mean I can unpack some of the boxes and boxes of books. 

I finally get Kahu round for a birthday meal. He's happy to be living somewhere else but I can see he's a bit startled by all the new people in the house. I'm happy he's living elsewhere so we can both get on with our lives and have more harmonious conversations when we do meet up. 

The weather goes back to grey but swims are not freezing like they used to be in this weather. The water is too unseasonably warm for that. Meanwhile in Ukraine the war of occupation goes on, in Wellington, at Parliament, anti-mandate protestors occupy the grounds, make a lot of noise, and a general nuisance of themselves while Covid unwinds.

Today's COVID-19 numbers, March 10th

• 21,015 new community cases
• 12 new cases identified at the border
• 773 cases in hospital
• 4817 total PCR tests in the last 24 hours
• 8,970 booster doses administered yesterday 

Update from the Ministry of Health, Changes to reporting COVID-19 deaths

From today, the Ministry of Health is moving to a new approach to reporting deaths of people who have COVID-19.

We will automatically report all deaths of people who die within 28 days of testing positive for COVID-19. This is the approach used by the UK and many other countries. As of today, this number is 81.

We will also be providing the following additional details that will include some deaths reported outside of the 28 day window:

• People for whom it is clear that COVID-19 is the cause of death. As of today, this number is 34.
• People who had (or were subsequently found to have) COVID-19 when they died but their cause of death was clearly not COVID-19 related. As of today, this number is 2.
• People whose cause of death is still under investigation e.g. it is being considered by the Coroner, but we know they had COVID-19 when they died. As of today, this number is 48.

• How the Parliament protest was brought to an end

  From The Detail, 5:00 am on 4 March 2022 

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  Sharon Brettkelly, co-host of The Detail

  sharon.brettkelly@rnz.co.nz
  

  Photo: RNZ

  After 23 days, the occupation at Parliament was finally brought to a chaotic and violent end. The Detail talks to two reporters who were there as it all unfolded. 

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  Torn tents, burnt trees and a scorched lawn were all that remained on Wednesday night of the 23-day protest on Parliament Grounds. 

  That morning, when the operation to clear the occupation began, RNZ’s Charlotte Cook and Stuff’s Thomas Manch had arrived before daybreak. 

  Even before the first clashes erupted between the police and protesters, there was a sense of tension.  

  “We had some suspicion that something was going to happen,” says Manch.  

  “You don't get 500 police officers in a city without people noticing.” 

  For an hour it was quiet, but the protesters seemed agitated. 

  They knew something was up, too. 

  “They'd been talking about it on their channels, they'd noticed some of the signals that we'd noticed,” says Manch. 

  Protest security guards were communicating on their walkie-talkies and flashing strobe lights in the faces of the reporters. 

  “And then the police helicopter was in the air, that was the start of it, that was the beginning,” says Manch. 

  Cook watched police officers come out of the back of Parliament, march past Lambton Quay and along Stout Street. The protesters were yelling. 

  “They were upset, they knew something was going to happen but what that looked like they weren't sure".