Distrust and Division

As a US citizen residing in New Zealand, the Covid response initiated by our government (and others) made our lives extremely difficult. As an international family, the vaccine passport and quarantine requirements made it impossible for us to travel at a very important time. In the US, my mother, a widower with dementia, fell and broke her shoulder. She called 911, was rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night, and had no one there to help. I could not travel to the USA and had to arrange for care services, transport, medical assistance, physiotherapists and Medicare services all from NZ. Being blessed with caring friends and a loving aunt in another state did help considerably, but the inability for me or our family to travel made this very stressful for everyone.

NZ response: distrust and division

The NZ government response was to create fear and distrust among the population in regards to social distancing, masking, and vaccination status. Jacinda Ardern’s now infamous, smug response regarding ‘creating a divided society as being the desired goal’ is well-known worldwide. New Zealand also instigated domestic vaccine passports to prevent those who had decided not to take the experimental gene therapy injections. Being banned from basic daily life activities, we were denied or had to go ‟underground” to receive such basic services as: legal, governmental, financial, and medical. Entertainment was completely out as we were prohibited from entering restaurants, cafes, movie theaters, and most public venues. My wife nearly lost her job, but was later forced to change her work hours and arrangements due the toxic distrust and division created here. Fortunately, our children were not of school age, so they did not have to experience the loss of social connection, education, or sporting activities that many of our friends and family with younger children had to endure.

NZ response: ongoing random lockdowns

For over two years, I was not able to travel to Auckland for US embassy business. Once again, this impacted my ability to help my mom with her legal and medical affairs. A relative, who was living in Auckland, was experiencing extreme challenges with his health (non-Covid related) living arrangements, and job. The lockdowns imposed in Auckland were very depressing. Many wanted to leave the area or just be able to get needed care, but could not due to the ruthless, dictatorial restrictions. Once again, we were unable to visit and help due to Air New Zealand imposing vaccine passports. We couldn’t drive there either, as even the inter-island ferries were off-limits. This was in mid to late 2021, way past most other countries’ peak restrictions.

The draconian measures that NZ (and others) imposed on society undoubtedly created measurable harm in all lifestyle metrics: economic, social, education, mental health, and basic human care. The ruling bodies certainly broke all the rules on how to manage health and well-being for an illness that in the end, had the lethality of seasonal influenza. If this sort of response was ever allowed in the future, it would certainly be foolhardy, or even more disconcerting, fit for a purpose.