Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Middle NZ: Be prepared, but stay calm

By Linda Hall
Hawkes Bay Today·
10 Mar, 2020 05:00 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Where has all the garlic gone? Photo / File

Where has all the garlic gone? Photo / File

COMMENT
It's been quite a week. Fighting over toilet paper as stocks run low because of people stockpiling.

People queueing at Auckland pharmacies to buy paracetamol as news breaks that there are "fears of a shortage as India limits drug support".

Then unbelievably I heard on the radio that garlic was flying off the shelves because people were using it in an effort to "boost their immune system."

As one of my colleagues commented "it would be much cheaper to boost your immune system by going for a run."

What a jolly good idea. A decent bit of exercise and a healthy balanced diet is a far better option.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Although I guess scoffing a whole lot of garlic would be a good way to keep people from getting too close to you.

The coronavirus really has sent the entire world into a spin. Yes, we need to be prepared and it's human nature to try and have the things we think we will need to keep our family safe and comfortable.

Premium - Middle NZ: What goes around comes around
• Premium - Middle NZ: Mindless TV a hot topic
• Premium - Middle NZ: Health board popular choice

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

There is no shortage of loo paper, however, it's like a chain reaction — you go the supermarket and shelves that are usually stacked with the stuff are bare. Immediately your brain tells you to get some before it's all gone even though there's most likely pallets of it in the storage sheds.

So instead of buying one packet as you normally would, you buy two or, as the ladies that fought in Australia did, fill an entire trolley.

Already there is no hand sanitiser to be had in the entire country.

I'm really not sure how or when that happened. I don't have any and I don't care. Same with face masks. I don't have any and I don't care.

In the middle of writing this I took a walk to the supermarket. I was absolutely stunned to find that there was not one clove of garlic in store. I asked one of the staff and they said they couldn't get any.

Linda Hall, assistant editor, Hawke's Bay Today.
Linda Hall, assistant editor, Hawke's Bay Today.

I moved to the supplement aisle because now I was curious as I had also heard someone say that vitamin C was the answer to preventing the virus. You guessed it — an empty shelf although there was some available further along.

I take vitamin C every now and then. Nothing wrong with that, but it's not a miracle supplement that is going to prevent you catching a virus of any kind. If it was, there would be no one in the world with colds and flu.

Let's be honest. The virus is eventually going to find it's way to Hawke's Bay and what I do care about is how our health services are going to cope. Our hospital struggles to cope as it is.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

I am no expert on this virus that is causing havoc around the world, but from what I understand the elderly are those most vulnerable especially if they have underlying problems.

If you have an elderly neighbour, especially if they have no family nearby, if you haven't already, give them your phone number. If things do get really bad knowing they can call you for help would be really reassuring.

It's a hard one, really, because on the one hand we can't say "she'll be right mate" and hope it all goes away, and on the other hand we don't want everybody panic buying.

We all need to simply do what we should have been doing all along — washing hands and staying home if you are feeling sick. That means not going to the supermarket as well.

Here's a thought — why don't they send all the logs stock piled at ports around the country to Kawerau? That will surely reassure people.

Linda Hall is assistant editor of Hawke's Bay Today.

Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Getting young crims back to class: 'We need a holiday, they keep turning up'

13 Jul 06:00 PM
Hawkes Bay Today

New health cadetship is opening doors for Wairoa job seekers

13 Jul 06:00 PM
Hawkes Bay Today

Taradale scupper Pirates to continue club rugby reign

13 Jul 12:44 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Getting young crims back to class: 'We need a holiday, they keep turning up'

Getting young crims back to class: 'We need a holiday, they keep turning up'

13 Jul 06:00 PM

$1.5m seized by police will be handed to Maraenui programme turning lives around.

New health cadetship is opening doors for Wairoa job seekers

New health cadetship is opening doors for Wairoa job seekers

13 Jul 06:00 PM
Taradale scupper Pirates to continue club rugby reign

Taradale scupper Pirates to continue club rugby reign

13 Jul 12:44 AM
New Four Square and shops planned for Taradale town centre

New Four Square and shops planned for Taradale town centre

12 Jul 06:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP