These sacrifices have, in my view, been worth it. The ongoing health and economic impact of not going hard and early on this deadly plague would have been tremendous and enduring.
But the sacrifices have still come at a terrible and abrupt economic price with businesses and industries badly hit and jobs lost.
So now is the time for us to pull together to support local businesses as they re-open safely or plan their re-opening in weeks to come.
NZME, publisher of the Rotorua Daily Post, has today launched GO LOCAL! to encourage people to buy and support local.
This campaign supports every other hyper-local buy local campaign across the region.
Over the coming weeks and months, we will use the power of our journalism to shine a light on businesses doing things differently and reinventing themselves, and how you can help.
It is vital each one of us does what we can to help local businesses by buying local goods and choosing local services.
Supporting local means these businesses can start to prosper again, spend more money with other businesses and hopefully employ more people.
It's vital for our local economy - and it's vital for our overall wellbeing.
We've taken the first step against fighting Covid-19. Now is the time to take the next step.
Yes, it will continue to be challenging. But, like in lockdown, together we can do this.
Now is the time to GO LOCAL!
