Eradication or immunisation?

Aotearoa New Zealand is balanced on a knife-edge. The strategy for eradication of COVID-19 in the community has worked so far but the Delta variant has brought in another dimension. Auckland, the main population centre is undergoing a brutal lockdown which is expected to last at least a month. Two weeks into the lockdown there is only a daily increase, albeit in much lesser numbers than other countries, in community cases in Auckland. The Government keeps asking the people for more patience and the Opposition which has always opposed a lockdown on economic grounds seems to be honing their knives for the kill. There is a little bit of hope coming from the other disease centre in the capital, Wellington, where the cases have been declining after the lockdown. Meanwhile, immunisation and (free!) COVID-19 testing is going on at record levels. The new area of worry seems to be the schools and the 20 to 30-year-old segments of the population who are now exposed due to the vaccine drive being concentrated in other age groups in the past. The political opposition is also braying about a slow vaccination process and adding this to their arsenal of ammunition for possible future use.

The latest information is that the whole country, except for Auckland and Northland, is going into level 3 and Northland is probably going into level 3 sooner than Auckland which faces at least 2 weeks more of level 4 lockdown. Level 3 means all restaurants and bars remain closed except for those with takeout. Working from home still happens except for essential services. A slight expansion of your bubble is allowed but only a maximum of 10 people are allowed at functions of any sort. Cases in the community are dropping and the ‘hard and fast’ lockdown is gaining credibility. A disturbing factor is the number of babies (under one year) in hospital with the delta variant and some mutations.

I believe it is the expert opinions’ consensus that total eradication of the disease from the community is impossible. So much so that some ‘world-renowned experts’ have openly scoffed at the present lockdown in NZ. The future seems to be down the path of immunisation and the possibly temporary relief that comes with it. Temporary I say because the virus keeps mutating and building resistance to existing vaccines and the vaccine sometimes only results in the severity of the disease being reduced. Even after vaccination, a mild form of the disease can be contracted and more alarmingly the mildly infected person can spread the disease.

The big pharmaceutical companies must be rubbing their hands with glee and the ‘know-it-all’s’ on the internet are howling in protest. We sometimes think that a lack of knowledge leads to reluctance to get vaccinated, but in Aotearoa – NZ it seems that too much knowledge from ‘trendy’ sources is doing a lot of damage among the millennials and those younger than them. Another case for the possible censorship of the internet is looking more and more inevitable. False information combined with the number of scams happening each day, does not bode well for this ‘salvation’ of the younger generation.

Herd immunity, I would have thought that in this day and age of political correctness that a less bovine term of reference would have been derived, seems to be the way to go. The disease will evolve, and more new vaccines will be sold to the world, until the Coronavirus joins the ranks of Polio and smallpox, in the ‘under control’ but still around, diseases of this world. ‘Social Immunity’ may replace social media in the vocabularies of the world as this looks like the best solution. The alternative does not bear thinking about, does it?

Armageddon as described in the Bible and by Nostradamus is looking more and more familiar. Fires, natural disasters, and pestilence dominate the headlines. This combined with the merciless destruction of our environment and total disregard for all the warning signs displayed by nature is even moving the scientific community, sometimes strong opponents of the aforesaid predictions, to an agreement. The second coming is now almost overdue, and the local soothsayers of the Pearl have predicted the arrival of ‘Diyasen Kumaraya’ to fill this role. Let’s hope this prince is not from the ranks of those wannabe princes lurking on the sidelines!

The Ayurveda doctors in the Pearl have been vociferous on YouTube about how they have various cures and preventive measures for COVID-19 that don’t involve vaccination. However, they have been preceded by charlatans who have damaged their credibility almost beyond redemption. They also show the usual NATO (no-action-talk-only) characteristics of their fellow countrymen. Some action in the form of free distribution of some medicines, provided they don’t cause any harm, could be a divertive strategy to be undertaken by the Government at worst, and miraculous salvation at best. After all, we have seen much more ham-handed diversion attempts by the powers that be, in the past.

The local ‘medicine men’ seem to be getting more and more militant and there is talk of them joining the already vociferous trade unions. A rather ill-timed attempt to build a walking track on the ancient bund of the Parakrama Samudra has sparked off a protest by the Buddhist monks of the area. The Catholic Church is already up in arms. Lethargy displayed by an already corrupt and useless police force when it comes to maintaining law and order and controlling the many protests that seem to be springing up in the cities and towns. The JVP is of course always available to disrupt although they seem unable to provide any solutions to the issues they raise. Do we see a spark of fire in the belly of the citizens of the Pearl? Let’s hope so and more importantly let’s start thinking of succession O people of the Pearl. After all, we know what happens with known devils and the unknown variety don’t, we!

fromoutsidethepearl@gmail.com