Kia ora koutou and welcome to this newsletter, which marks an extraordinary week in New Zealand.
As we all prepare to go into lockdown from midnight tonight, I hope you are all well and set up for spending the weeks ahead at home. Only essential services will remain open to minimise contact between people and to slow down the spread of COVID-19.
Public health researchers have welcomed the shutdown announcement - and Michael Baker, at the University of Otago, says he felt a huge sense of relief because a lockdown gives New Zealand a chance to change the course of the pandemic. With cases now on an exponential climb, he expects it could take more than two weeks before we start to see the number of new cases level off and perhaps decline.
As University of Waikato law expert Alexander Gillespie writes, the police and medical officials already have certain powers under existing laws to control people’s movement, but the prime minister has foreshadowed she will also declare a state of emergency.
Staying at home and keeping safe is not easy for everyone though. More than 300,000 people living in New Zealand are migrants without residence status, here on a temporary work, student or family visa. Many work in key roles that will help us through the COVID-19 pandemic - and University of Waikato researcher Francis Collins argues that people on temporary permits must be given equal access to health and social services.
There are also tens of thousands of New Zealanders who don’t have a secure home, or enough living space to avoid close or prolonged contact with others. University of Otago housing researcher Clare Aspinall writes that looking after the health of New Zealanders who are homeless, or living in crowded or emergency accommodation, has never been more urgent.
We will continue to cover the COVID-19 crisis across all of The Conversation’s editions and bring you other stories to read while we all adjust to lockdown conditions.
Kia kaha everyone, take care and look out for each other. He mini nunui ki a koutou katoa.
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