{"id":37647,"date":"2020-03-23T06:30:31","date_gmt":"2020-03-22T17:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=37647"},"modified":"2020-03-24T22:23:40","modified_gmt":"2020-03-24T09:23:40","slug":"writing-in-a-time-of-corona-virus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2020\/03\/23\/writing-in-a-time-of-corona-virus\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing In A Time of Corona Virus (Updated)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Putting up the shutters on public contact — but still writing.<\/p><\/div>\n

Update:<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

With Covid-19 cases increasing every day here in NZ, the government yesterday announced an immediate shift to Level 3, moving to Level 4 and full lockdown except for essential services at 11.59 pm, Wednesday 25 March, for four weeks. <\/span><\/p>\n

Basically this means everyone who is not in an essential business or service should be isolating in their own home as soon as possible, but definitely from that point. The intention is to prevent exponential spread of infection and the NZ health system being overwhelmed, and to save lives. <\/span><\/p>\n

I 100% support the decision by the government for all of the above reasons, but I know it may be very tough for many people. <\/span>So my thoughts are with you all—as well as with all those internationally who are dealing with the pandemic in similar or other ways. <\/span><\/p>\n

In NZ, I really hope we can step up to staying home and keeping part, and get through this together. <\/span>Kia kaha, New Zealand: stand strong together by standing apart.<\/span><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

I know many of you are already dealing with the Covid-19 corona virus in your own countries, and that in some of those countries it is overwhelming health services. Over the weekend New Zealand moved to Level 2 of a four level process, with some public health professionals arguing that we should already be at Level 4: Lockdown if we are to avoid being overwhelmed.<\/p>\n

In short, we live in fairly frightening times, especially—although by no means exclusively—if we have family members or friends who are among the most at-risk groups. At such times it’s really important to look out for each other as best we can, but also to heed the public health advice.<\/p>\n

Currently in New Zealand that’s to avoid all unnecessary social contact, including working from home where-ever possible and avoiding non-essential travel. Those over 70 and in high risk health groups are being advised to self-isolate in their home environment regardless. For those wanting to know more, and why it matters, there’s a really good article here on The Spinoff:<\/p>\n

What Does “Level Two Mean — And Why Does It Matter?<\/a><\/h3>\n

I believe the graphic, in particular, really encapsulates matters—and puts the knife’s edge we’re all teetering on clearly in perspective.<\/p>\n

In terms of what I can do within those parameters, as a writer and ordinary-person-on-the-suburban-rear-lines at such a time, the obvious one is to keep writing—which I am doing and shall continue to do. There is, after all, a book and a series to be completed. In that sense, I guess working from home and staying put is “business as usual” for a writer.<\/p>\n

In terms of also being a family member and a friend, as well as part of a wider community, I am maintaining contact with family members but also working with six to eight friends who live in the same community to establish an email\/phone support network. The idea is to keep each other updated re our status in terms of work and health, and to provide support if required in terms of picking up groceries or prescriptions. If and when a community-wide lockdown is implemented, we may also look at doing our updates via skype\u00a0 or something similar (assuming the internet holds up to all the additional use.) In our case, we also have elderly neighbours so will be making sure they have our number to call at need.<\/p>\n

And that’s pretty much it. Although the potential economic fallout from this pandemic is also quite scary, along with the health consequences, all we can do is hang in there and do our best to look after ourselves and others, even if a great deal of it must be at armslength or via the internet.<\/p>\n

Wherever you<\/em> are, I know you’ll be trying to do your best in whatever the current situation is. So be as careful as you can out there, and as safe and well as it is possible to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Update: With Covid-19 cases increasing every day here in NZ, the government yesterday announced an immediate shift to Level 3, moving to Level 4 and full lockdown except for essential services at 11.59 pm, Wednesday 25 March, for four weeks. Basically this means everyone who is not in an essential business or service should be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37647"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37656,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37647\/revisions\/37656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}