Luke Kirkness: Covid-19 coronavirus: Why are some people not taking Covid-19 seriously?

OPINION

I escaped Auckland before the new lockdown.

No, not on Sunday night but last week to take up a new job with the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post as a reporter.

My byline has appeared in both newspapers since then, with a particular focus this week on articles about New Zealand's apathetic approach to alert level 1.

I'm still an outsider in this part of the world so I feel obliged to call some community members out.

A quick disclaimer: I'm stepping off my high horse because I know I'm guilty of being slack too.

There was a tidal wave of people seeking Covid-19 tests and a jump in tracer app use after three community cases were discovered in Auckland on Sunday.

Guy Body's take on the tracer app earlier this year. Photo / Guy Body

All I have heard from experts, doctors, and academics this week is they were not surprised there was an increase after news of the community cases.

Getting tests and using the tracer app are preventative measures designed to stop an outbreak dead in its tracks.

However, it seems to me too many people in the Bay of Plenty aren't taking them seriously. Why is this the case? I'm no expert but here's what I think:

Firstly, some people are being lazy.

Using the tracer app is incredibly easy, and if people don't have a phone capable of scanning, they can sign-in manually with pen and paper - yes, they still exist.

I held a stakeout on Monday afternoon at Tauranga Countdown and in 15 minutes, only two people of 20 used the QR code to sign in. A colleague in Rotorua did the same for Rotorua Central Mall, where only three people of 20 signed in.

I'm guessing most people have smartphones anyway and we're all addicted to them, so it's easy to take five-seconds to scan any QR codes.

Secondly, some people are being dumb.

I realise it's a big call to call people dumb when you've just moved somewhere new but are those people not scanning or signing in forgetting how painful lockdown was last year?

I wasn't able to visit friends or family, working from home was a pain, and some of my favourite music artists were forced to cancel tours.

And while they're probably not big problems in the grand scheme of things, I'm sure many other people had a reasonably tough time too.

But spare a thought for the friends and family of the 26 people who have died or those who couldn't leave or enter New Zealand.

Worldwide, people have missed birthdays, weddings, anniversaries and funerals due to the pandemic.

And out of respect to all those people who have lost so much and what we are still at risk of losing, we cannot take a casual approach to level 1 or level 2 either.

If we, as a region, want to enjoy the freedoms of a near-normal lifestyle, we all need to play our part, we need to be the team of five million.

Life today isn't normal, so people shouldn't act like it.

Collectively, we need to step up. It's as simple as scanning QR codes and getting tests when we're sick.