Covid 19 coronavirus: Editorial - Go Local! Get behind our local businesses

Let's get behind local businesses! Photo / Bevan Conley

Some would say we've done the hard yards. We've held strong through nearly five weeks of level 4 lockdown and we're slowly climbing back up the levels towards that far-off goal that is normal life.

But while our region has managed to get off relatively lightly in terms of Covid-19 infection, locking down our lives has come at a cost.

Being unable to move freely has meant many local businesses have been unable to operate for an extended period, affecting the livelihoods of owners, managers and staff.

Many businesses remain restricted under level 3.

But one bright sign has been the ingenuity shown by those making the situation work for them.

As Whanganui Chamber of Commerce chief executive Sue Stuart notes in today's story, local businesses have shown tenacity in thinking "outside the box" trying to find ways to operate.

As a local business, the Whanganui Chronicle has had to adapt too, while continuing to publish throughout. Whanganui Midweek is out today too. Together we're launching Go Local! - a campaign to champion local business, and encourage you, our readers, to help support the Whanganui economy. Choose local goods and services. Choose local retailers. Go local whenever and wherever you can.

As Whanganui mayor Hamish McDouall says in today's story, getting local businesses up and running again will be so important to our economic recovery.

With the Go Local! campaign we will bring you over the coming weeks stories of local business innovation and success, tales of inspirational thinking and telling you how you can play a part in rebuilding our local economy.

There are still challenges ahead and will be for some time. The sooner we begin to rise to those challenges as a community, the better for all of us.

To borrow and adapt some words from the Prime Minister, we need to go hard, go early, and Go Local!