The view of the Southern Motorway deserted on the first day of the Level 4 Lockdown in March 2020. Photo / Brett Phibbs
At 11:59pm on March 25, 2020, New Zealand entered its first level-four Covid-19 lockdown.
In a historic address, then-Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said “Now is the time to put our plans into action”.
“Act now, or risk the virus taking hold as it has elsewhere.”
At that time, we had 102 cases. Over the next two years, that number would balloon to more than 2 million. Four days after this announcement, New Zealand would record its first Covid-related death.
“The situation here is moving at pace, and so are we,” Ardern said. And so we did.
New Zealand’s borders shut, gatherings were limited, and managed isolation facilities were stood up. Words and phrases such as “social distancing”, “bubbles”, “rapid antigen tests”, and “the team of 5 million” entered our lexicon.
Otago University professor of public health, and epidemiologist, Michael Baker would join a list of experts who’d become household names overnight.
He told The Front Page some days it feels longer than five years ago and others, it seems like yesterday.
" I think with lockdowns, we’ve got a real problem with the terminology in that in much of the world, they were used to flatten the curve, and that’s the old approach to influenza and in our pandemic plan. Whereas in New Zealand, we had a much more radical approach, which was to eliminate the virus entirely," he said.
The first part of the royal commission of inquiry into Covid was released in December.
“Contentious public health measures like vaccine mandates wore away at what had initially been a united wall of public support for the pandemic response,” it read.
In 2021, the Government announced workers in certain sectors were required to be fully vaccinated against Covid.
Baker agreed, saying there was some overuse of mandates.
“I think they were well-intentioned and one of the effects of putting pressure on people, some people would say nudging them to get vaccinated, but in fact it was stronger than a nudge, was we did achieve very high vaccine coverage.
“But, I think we did pay a price in terms of cohesion and trust in what we were doing. I hope that we will do things differently next time. If there was a next time, which is very likely,” he said.
Animosity towards authority and media strengthened as time and lockdowns dragged on. Discontentment in the community culminated in an occupation on Parliament grounds and protests against lockdowns.
“Every time I write something on Covid or talk to the media, or talk about vaccination, I will get very unpleasant emails. Most of the people I meet socially are very positive about New Zealand’s response and thank me and others who contributed to that. But, then you occasionally meet someone who, mainly about vaccination, is very verbally abusive and unpleasant,” Baker said.
“I’ve had a few encounters where I felt physically threatened, but I haven’t been assaulted and I think that overall the level of risk is actually much higher for other groups who have to interact with the public during this period. Journalists, I know, did get assaulted. Politicians got assaulted and frontline staff, police, and people working in emergency departments.”
One of the best things we can do to prepare for another pandemic-like event, he said, is to get people using basic measures during the winter peak of respiratory infections.
" We could introduce measures such as encouraging people to wear masks on public transport when we are in the middle of the flu season every year as a protective measure.
“The other area, of course, is vaccination. We’re not hearing much about Covid vaccines, but it’s still very good at protecting us from serious illnesses. Also one of its big benefits is reducing the risk of long Covid, and that’s why I think we should lower the age of eligibility for boosters to 18, currently, it’s 30 and that’s different in other countries like Australia.”
Baker also believed New Zealand needs a strong voice for public health “to keep reminding us that we can make our population healthier and safer and give people longer lives without suffering from these avoidable threats”.
“I’m quite concerned that we are seeing some efforts to muzzle the voice of public health in New Zealand. I think this is sending a chilling effect through the system. So, some of the voices in New Zealand can no longer speak out on public health concerns, particularly the local medical officers of health.
“I hope that’s something we can learn from our experience with the pandemic and the period since we need to encourage these voices and these conversations,” he said.
Listen to the full episode to hear more reflection about the five years since Covid.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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