Leaving big sister's house

Photo c/o stats.govt.nz

28 February, New Zealand reports its first case of Covid-19, a person in their 60s who travelled from Iran to Auckland. The following day, staff from the Ministry of Health begin meeting direct flights landing at NZ airports from Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Japan and South Korea. Panic buying at supermarkets for toilet paper, hand sanitiser and food products. 04 March is the second case of an Auckland woman in her 30s who has visited northern Italy. The following is the third case, 06 March fourth case, 07 March fifth case. 11 March, when the World Health organisation (WHO) declared the Covid-19 as a pandemic. 17 March amidst rising number of cases in NZ and globally, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says, "be strong, but be kind. We will be OK."

11:59 pm of March 25 Aotearoa New Zealand moves to alert level four, and the entire nation goes into self-isolation. "We have a window of opportunity to stay home, break the chain of transmission and save lives," says Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. A prior series of serious Covid-19 related events made her decide to close our borders. Four, crisp, direct to the point words she uttered "it is that simple" made everything stop, except for very essential services: public transportation, nurses, doctors, healthcare workers, among a few others were the exceptions.

When alert level four was implemented, it automatically kept everyone in quarantine, self-isolation, what would later on be called as staying in your bubble. The people whom you were with at midnight became your bubble for the next four weeks. What would later on be termed as the new normal slowly came into play: contact less shopping, social distancing, continuous hand washing for 20 minutes, online or Zoom meetings, homeschooling thru e-learning, and staying in one's bubble. I specifically stayed awake until midnight and right after to monitor how Kiwis responded to the call. I live halfway up the hill and could see the roads in the valley. Normally a few vehicles would be up and about but this time the roads were clear of any vehicles, even way before midnight. The following day, saw photos and videos, of the empty streets of Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton, Christchurch, Queenstown, among many other cities and towns.

A few food entrepreneurs began to delivery groceries, food, etc. Long queues began to appear in supermarkets (the only place to sell food products, etc.) and one could hear a general stillness in the surroundings (free from the sound of motor vehicles). After a few days, one could begin to hear the wonderful sound of birds chirping, and slowly see the skies turn from grey to blue.

7 weeks after and we're now officially a country of 5-million Kiwis. One of the culprits indirectly is the Covid-19 pandemic. New Zealand had to undergo a long lock-down wherein only essential service personnel are the only ones allowed to be outside their dwelling places. It is not only NZ who have had a spiked in population growth, there are other countries I'm sure. There's a new term to be used when babies born during this period will be called pandemic babies or better yet coronials! Happiest amazing birthday!