a new lockdown, and an NZ lesson.

hallo loves.

sunrise in aotearoa new zealand.

this country has only seen 26 deaths from covid, total, since the pandemic started.

we went into hard level 4 lockdown last night at midnight because they’d detected one single case in the community. there was a national news briefing at 6pm. at 7pm, every cell phone in NZ blared an alert.

everybody scuttled home.

they’ve now found four cases of delta variant in the community, and i’m relieved we are in a hard lockdown.

i want to explain this to the people overseas who weren’t following last year: level four lockdown here means you don’t do anything but stay home, cook and survive. there is no take-out. no hardware store. the only thing that is open? hospitals, gas stations, grocery stores. that’s it.

you can walk around your neighborhood. you can bubble with one carer or friend if you live alone. if you are divorced/separated parents of a child, you can drive back and forth. you cannot kayak, surf, mountain bike, or do anything that might pull emergency services your way.

people and businesses losing income can apply to the government and receive aid, quickly. this is how NZ managed to evade a further covid outbreak after those initial 26 deaths. and i hope it works again. after reading all of the stories from the states about how confusing, conflicting and maddening the system (or lack of system) is over there, i’ve never felt more grateful to a government. they are organized, they are compassionate, they communicate clearly, and it’s saved thousands of lives. 633,000 deaths in america so far.

i will lockdown happily. with passion, almost. i still cannot believe i get to be here. i’m more grateful today to be in this country than i ever have been. it’s all relative.

new zealand is less than 50% vaxxed (all pfizer) due to a painfully slow rollout; one thing that isn’t going as well as it could here. when jacinda arden, the prime minister, was asked yesterday why the public should still “pursue vaccines”, even though you can be vaxxed and still get covid, she replied:

“because they prevent you from dying“.

mind-blowing, isn’t it.

happy to take questions but hoping the kiwi patrons can help me answer … i’m back into a world of no school and full-on domestic life with ash and a lotta dishes.

i’ll be extra slow getting back to anyone about anything.

i was supposed to head back to the recording studio tomorrow. that ain’t happening. and it’s fine. i saw this all coming and that’s part of why i’ve been slowing my life and work down. it is what it is. and i’m glad it is what it is.

lots of love to all of you everywhere, and thank you for being my patrons through all of this. you’re keeping me alive.

xx

AFP