Thread by @juliefairey

I know it can feel like all we (NZ) did was delay things. But quite apart from considering all the nice things we were able to have in the last two years by deferring death & sickness, we also gained a lot of ground that will decrease death & sickness in the coming weeks… 1/n

For a start we are more vaxxed and boosted than ever before, and the science tells us that does make a difference with omicron - those who catch COVID with some vax are much less likely to end up in hospital or die. The vaxxed are also less likely to infect others eg less… 2/n

… severe symptoms like coughing, sneezing, and for a shorter period, means less virus being spread than from those who get sicker. There are cases now of household contacts in vaxxed houses who aren’t catching it off an infected housemate. Also because we have better… 3/n

… home isolation processes than ever before. We know about masks and ventilation and doing stuff outdoors as much as possible. Everyone has masks and correct use is widely known. In the last month especially people have been getting better quality masks, learning to… 4/n

… double mask with surgical & cloth when N95s aren’t available. Most of us didn’t know any of this two years ago. Now even young kids can do it. 5/n

Those who can wfh generally have what they need to do so, especially in AKL. Many workplaces understand how remote working goes - some are more productive, some less, and you need to let go of micro managing. 6/n

Most of us are now heaps better at eyeballing two metres and maintains safe distances. We actively choose to avoid crowds (super hard on our creative sector especially) and it does slow the spread. 7/n

And slowing the spread is huge. We’ve already slowed the spread in numbers & over time. If we’d had these case numbers at the start, before the drugs, vax and health protocols were developed, before we knew about masks & distancing, it would have grown much faster & deadlier. 8/n

We were able to set up an incredible contact tracing system which stopped several outbreaks in their tracks and basically eliminated Delta (!!). Recognition of symptoms is widespread, avoiding further spread as people know that pizza was bland because I’m sick… 9/n

… so they get tested and/or isolate and don’t leave one star reviews on Trip Advisor etc and keep spreading COVID 🤦🏻‍♀️ I have in the past tweeted about deferring death as a poke at those Reply Guys saying that’s all we were doing. 10/n

Evidence is we’ve done much much more than just defer death - we’ve given ourselves, including our most vulnerable, time to get ready so there will be a lot less death & illness & long term disability. 11/n

But even if all we had done was defer death that is still not nothing. Deferring my dad’s death by 3 yrs would have meant my eldest child might remember him. He would have seen me elected to council. He would have held my second child as a newborn. Deferring is winning too. 12/12

This unexpectedly blew up a bit - thx for the kind words, I’m glad it’s helpful. Taking this opportunity to promote this: If you wanted to help @aunties_the help whanau with COVID here’s the bank account to do so 12-3019-0022633-00 (full disclosure I’m on this charity’s board)