Heather du Plessis-Allan: We've lost our senses over Covid-19

COMMENT

We have lost leave of our senses over Covid-19.

People are so frightened of catching this thing that they have completely abandoned all reason.

We have three new cases of Covid-19 in all of New Zealand today.

And there are only 386 people still infected.

This should've been our first day of alert level 3 but here we are still in lockdown level 4.

And apparently there are plenty of us happy to be locked down.

How crazy is that?

We are in alert level 4 for a few more days yet. Photo / Alex Burton

What are we scared of? Becoming the next New York? Is that going to happen if we open our economy just a wee bit?

We don't live as densely as New Yorkers do. Sir Ray Avery's pointed out New York has 11,000 people per square kilometre. We have 18.

We could be doing what the Australians are doing: Letting manufacturing, construction, retail and takeaways start now like they should've been able to.

Australia hasn't sacrificed health for money. They had only four new cases yesterday. They now have fewer deaths and fewer cases per capita. They are now doing better than we are.

And then we have the absolute anxiety over reopening schools which is so out of hand that it's prompted the principal of Morrinsville College to send out a newsletter warning parents that sending kids to school is a "potential disaster" and kids "can die".

Statement of fact obviously. But kids could also die on a trip to the bach in the car and we don't stop doing that.

Dr Ashley Bloomfield has pointed out that children are at less risk from Covid-19. Photo / Mark Mitchell

And this is despite all the advice from Director General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield, from the Health Minister and from the Chief Medical Officer in Australia that kids can and should go to school.

They are arguably the least at risk from Covid-19.

In Sweden where they're letting the virus run free, no one under 20 has died.

And the evidence is kids aren't big spreaders of this disease.

I'll point you to the case of the 9-year-old boy in France who caught Covid-19, the cold and the flu. He then interacted with 170 people. He passed on the cold and the flu but didn't pass Covid-19 on to a single person.

Testing at Airport Oaks in Māngere last month. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

Too scared to go back to school or back to business?

We should be making decisions right now based on science, evidence and rational thinking, not fear.