Now's not the time to get complacent, writes Jo Raphael. Photo / Getty Images
Now's not the time to get complacent, writes Jo Raphael. Photo / Getty Images
There seems to be an air of complacency in the region with regards to our Covid-19 level 2 alert restrictions.
Are we exactly keeping our 2m distance? Do we touch, shake hands, hug and kiss people more freely than we used to?
The newness and the fear that kept uscompliant during level 4 seems to have been displaced by the taste of freedom afforded to us by level 1.
That all snapped back into perspective in August however, with the news that a large cluster forced Auckland back into level 3 and the rest of us to level 2.
Even closer to home is the news that two brothers have died from the virus. They have a large whānau in Tokoroa who they visited before the second outbreak - and where they are now buried.
Auckland-based father of four Alan Te Hiko was the first to die from the current outbreak. He contracted the virus at the Americold coolstore – believed to be at the centre of the cluster.
His brother Nigel also died of the virus, surprising his whānau by how fast it took hold, and how quickly Nigel deteriorated.
"When Nigel became ill I was surprised he went downhill so quickly," whānau spokesman Chris Mckenzie says.
