Zizi Sparks: Returning travellers need to make sacrifices

Giving up yoga for two weeks is a small ask. Photo / File

COMMENT

I scoffed when I read about the woman in managed isolation who cried when yoga group sessions in her hotel were canned and who likened being in isolation to prison.

I felt bad when I read she did not want to be identified after she was subject to trolling on social media.

But I stand by my initial scoff.

I have not experienced what it's like to be in managed isolation but I have seen social media posts about the three meals per day, plus snacks, the king beds, the weekly laundering - returned washed, dried and folded.

The woman said she had used her yoga mat and an app and exercised in her room but this didn't satisfy a need for social connection.

Every member of the team of 5 million made that same sacrifice when New Zealand went into lockdown. We were all asked to give up physical social connections with those outside our bubbles and we complied, apart from a few people.

We gave up yoga classes and we gave up gym classes. We gave up work collegiality and the chance to visit family members in other cities.

But we made do. We exercised in different ways, worked in different ways, and we formed social connections using the technology at our fingertips.

We made those sacrifices for the almost five-week stint at alert level 4 and the more than two weeks at alert level 3.

We made sacrifices because we knew we had to for the greater good, and it paid off.

Yes it was different from being in a hotel for two weeks. We could wander the neighbourhood to get exercise freely.

And I'll admit it would be hard to be holed up in a hotel with minimal exercise, time outdoors and social interaction for two weeks. But Kiwis have already made similar sacrifices and returning Kiwis are being asked to do the same.

It's the sacrifice they must make. Because at the end of those two weeks lies a country with more freedom from Covid-19 than anywhere else in the world.

Not performing a daily salute to the sun for two weeks in order to live here is a sacrifice I would be willing to make.

People in isolation need to make the sacrifice and follow the rules - and remember that we the taxpayers have been funding their re-entry into New Zealand.