If someone had told me six months ago the world was about to be turned upside down to an unprecedented state of panic and uncertainty, I would have thought they were having me on. But here we are in May 2020 moving through emergency levels, trying to get back to some sort of normality, which almost seems as if it will never actually be the same again.
Before the lockdown, it was predicted family violence reports to police would spike to record levels. For Taranaki, that was true for the first two weeks of the lockdown with more callouts than usual.
It then levelled off for weeks three to four and spiked again through weeks five to six, going into level 3. There seems to be an increase when we move from one level to another, so it's critical we stay vigilant, even going into level 2 and then level 1.
The Covid-19 outbreak has at the very least brought to the surface some key awareness messaging for us all to acknowledge.
It's given us a severe wake-up call about taking life for granted, but also a chance to come together and change the way we do some things. For example, it's great there has been an increased awareness for our most vulnerable groups in society, particularly the elderly. The real shame is that it shouldn't take a worldwide pandemic for us to realise this.