Hamish Bidwell: Are we or are we not in the grip of an epidemic?

Hamish Bidwell says he's not trivialising Covid or trying to minimise its impact. "That's been done for me by health officials and the government." Photo / Warren Buckland

Why on earth would anyone administer a RAT test?

Why are we chronicling Covid-related deaths and infection numbers?

Why are we still wearing masks at places such as the supermarket and petrol station, but not elsewhere?

Can you not catch Covid at school or the pub or in the dairy?

Or is it that the powers that be don't actually care about our health any more?

Let's be fair dinkum here, Covid cases are skyrocketing and yet we're not in lockdown or even seriously discussing it.

If the plan was for us all to get crook, then why did we bother locking down twice before?

It's hard to find someone who hasn't had Covid or isn't battling some kind of cold at the moment. We all appear to be infected, or have been infected, by a lurgy of some sort.

Health crisis? What health crisis? Epidemic? What epidemic?

If those nominally in charge of this nation are content to have you continue with your daily life, why would you bother RAT testing at the first sign of persistent symptoms?

I have to say I'm pro-mask. Just as I wouldn't complain if a lockdown were imposed again.

I'm frightened of needles and have never been particularly pleased about being told what to do, but I happily consented to vaccination.

And I did so because I believed vaccinations and lockdowns and masks were the best available measure to limit the harm Covid could cause to our communities.

Hamish Bidwell. Photo/ Warren Buckland

But as I look at the state of play now and see cases rising at an alarming rate, I have to wonder what the point of all that was and why little or anything is being done to limit the number of infections.

Is that because it would be politically unpopular to impose widespread restrictions again or because there's actually nothing to worry about?

That's why I don't get people RAT testing or isolating.

I'm no epidemiologist, but I can only surmise that infection rates are on the rise due to sick people carrying on as if they're not.

And why wouldn't or shouldn't they, when it's basically business as usual?

It's not me trivialising Covid or trying to minimise its impact. That's been done for me by health officials and the Government.

Time was when the release of the latest case numbers was appointment viewing. Ten people today, up from eight yesterday and so on.

Four people in hospital.

We all clutched our pearls, shut the windows and looked suspiciously at anyone who walked down the street.

Now I see 21 New Zealanders just died of Covid-related symptoms, 662 are in hospital and new cases have topped 9500.

So much for the Team of 5 Million banding together to save our ailing health system.

But, hey, we take our cues from the top and, as far as I can see, the plan is for us all to pretend this isn't happening.

I understand the idea of Covid-fatigue. I get that fearmongering is only effective for so long. I accept that there's little or no appetite for another lockdown.

But if that's the case, then why continue the charade of RAT testing and isolating?

We're either in the grip of a deadly epidemic - and the evidence would suggest we are - or we're not.