Future glimpses – a short story
Every morning, my first action is check DEMIC for the latest status of COVID-19, COVID-27, AVID-3 and PARAMID-10. I tell myself that […]
Author: Jane Shearer
Checking the experiment’s progress
How’s the experiment going? New Zealand’s vital COVID stats – testing, cases, deaths (only one so far) – are looking good. Norway, Denmark and Sweden are looking similar, which is odd given Sweden’s very different approach, not locking down.
Where’s my grandmother when I need her?
Today I’d like my grandmother to be looking after me. I’d like to be in her house baking then play some ball-on-a-string, then stay the night and go to bed in Granny and Fafa’s spare room after they kiss me goodnight and Granny tells me a story about growing up in India.
Tracking the enemy
Contact tracing is a critical part of suppressing COVID – going back through the chain of people who someone ill has been in contact with. It’s disturbing, the thought of the government knowing your every move through your phone.
Coronavirus tea party
We had a tea party with our nearby bubble mates – friends living in our barn, using a 2 metre separation as measured by our 1.8 metre table.
Can I rent an optimist for my bubble?
Bubbles need optimists. My realism outweighs my optimism, which outweighs my pessimism. However, for bubble times, I’d like to invite an optimist into my bubble – here are a couple of people I’d import in a flash.
Bubble fever
Here in Gibbston, I thought I’d introduce you to an important bubble mate – Loki the cat. The good news today is Ashley Bloomfield says we may be near peak COVID case load.
Covi-noia
The USA FDA has granted emergency use of a test that identifies COVID antibodies in blood within 2 minutes from a finger prick sample i.e. it can identify whether someone has COVID. It’s the first in a chain of rapid COVID tests being developed which will reduce the stress in a supermarket queue of wondering whether the coughing person in front of you has COVID.
High trust – high risk
We often rely on trusting others to do the right thing, both when your partner hands you a water bottle and when your COVID experiment requires you to social distance. However, we have the strange discrepancy returning New Zealanders are trusted to self-quarantine while we are not trusted to swim in the sea and not drown. Hmmm…
Thorny issues
COVID-19 is a ‘wicked’ problem – one that is impossible to solve and for which no single solution is sufficient or all-encompassing. The pandemic’s wickedness relates to the interlinked ethical dilemmas around sacrificing people in the interesting of sustaining the economy.