Our Covid future
Both Covid-19 and humans have evolved to adapt and survive. Mathematical formulae are a joy to behold, but aside from a few simple ones best known to Einstein, Newton and a few others, cannot predict nature in all its variations.
Our human behaviour can inflict a few savage wounds on the virus, but eliminating it is another matter. Even when we reach our achievable population vaccination level, the evolving virus will continue to present itself. Our nation took a slow pathway to choosing, approving and ordering a vaccine, but is now sprinting.
Our decision-makers need to recognise that the greater good of its diverse population requires a broader focus than those provided by arithmetic and the Ministry of Health. People’s daily lives need comfort, quality, socialising and pleasures for well-being.
High community vaccination levels plus Covid infections with brief illnesses, some hospitalisations and relatively uncommon deaths are part of our foreseeable future.
Graham Mellsop CNZM
Professor Emeritus, University of Auckland
Psychologist Emily McRae’s comments in the September 18 Editor’s Letter are on point about the messaging in the daily Covid briefings. At a recent one, we Aucklanders were encouraged to feel the country’s gratitude for our mahi. This completely misses the point about how Aucklanders I know are feeling and simply exacerbates tension for those already down.
Those rule-makers and their large team of communication advisers, unaccustomed to the kind of malaise affecting business people and their workers, will not
