For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here. The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The Spinoff Members here. On … Read more
The second week of lockdown mobility data reveals NZ remains compliant with lockdown measures. Google mobility data covering most of the second week of lockdown shows New Zealand continuing to comply with the rules imposed by the level four lockdown. Compared with week one, the country is near identical in the six categories reported on … Read more
China’s culture of catchy slogans has been vital to its Covid-19 recovery efforts. Shanghai resident Asen Velinov explains the rich history behind some of the bizarre slogans seen on social media. “Pick where you will be resting – on your couch, in jail, in hospital or in an early grave.” “Take a walk today and … Read more
With each new day, it is becoming increasingly clear that we cannot and should not return to the normality we have come to know in health, writes ICU doctor David Galler. Over the past few weeks, our lives have been turned upside down and inside out in ways we could never have anticipated. Many of … Read more
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here. The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The Spinoff Members here. 6.15pm: … Read more
The latest in our new series of charts, graphics and data visualisations by Chris McDowall. This work is entirely funded by the generosity of The Spinoff Members These posts collate the most recent statistics and present them as charts and maps. The Ministry of Health typically publishes data updates in the early afternoon, which describe … Read more
Today New Zealand begins two desolate days without updates from Ashley Bloomfield. Here’s something to soften the blow. The daily briefings from Dr Ashley Bloomfield, the director general of health, have become a staple in many people’s lives, especially under lockdown. He’s hardly missed a day, but this Easter weekend is having an astonishing two … Read more
The government yesterday announced it would step up its arrivals policy to mandate hotel quarantine or ‘managed self-isolation’ for all returning New Zealanders – people like Andrew Todd, who describes what it’s like to live in a Covid-19 quarantine zone. Four weeks ago, I was living in Canada, earning a meagre but stable income as … Read more
Responding to sudden, shocking change requires a double lens. Read more from the Lockdown letters here. My granddaughter has been making a newspaper. The Daily Chirp. It’s very small, as befits a newspaper designed for birds, but it contains news (a worrying rise in Tweet-19), “Adds” for birdseed medicine (Fight the Tweet-19 virus!), and a … Read more
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Pat MacFie from Manaaki. This week we have another special podcast highlighting some of the support and services … Read more
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here. The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The Spinoff Members here. 7.00pm: … Read more
The Beths’ livestreamed concert yesterday showed that even in lockdown, live music isn’t dead. Here’s why it worked, and where you can see other Kiwis live streaming for the next week. Yesterday at 9am, Liz Stokes put a giant pineapple mask over her head and played the Animal Crossing theme on a trumpet stuffed with … Read more
As New Zealand enters its third week of Covid-19 lockdown, a just-released set of modelling provides a flare of light at the end of the tunnel, reports Toby Manhire. On a day in which the active case number decreased, new analysis finds that “while New Zealand case numbers remain low, tracing, testing, and rapid case … Read more
The latest in our new series of charts, graphics and data visualisations by Chris McDowall. This work is entirely funded by the generosity of The Spinoff Members These posts collate the most recent statistics and present them as charts and maps. The Ministry of Health typically publishes data updates in the early afternoon, which describe … Read more
It’s OK if you don’t come out of lockdown with abs. We are living through the worst global pandemic since the Spanish Flu in 1918 and the beginning of an economic calamity that has already claimed the jobs of millions of workers the world over. Hospitals are full, schools are closed and many countries are in full lockdown. We’re practising … Read more
An Auckland bus driver tells Leonie Hayden what it’s like to operate under alert level four, and the struggle to secure a safer work environment. Mike moved to New Zealand in 2001. “I’m a Kiwi now,” he says, “and a die-hard unionist.” He’s employed by a large New Zealand bus company and as union delegate … Read more
The 1pm briefing has become appointment viewing. But it is no substitute for transparent, timely information, even in such extraordinary times, writes Newshub investigations reporter Michael Morrah in this post originally published on Newshub. Like all journalists in New Zealand right now, I’ve been covering stories day after day, all of which relate to our … Read more
‘It is sobering watching what a country can do if it wants to. Having been told for so long that nothing is possible. These are strange times down the back of the bus, John.’ Read more Lockdown Letters here. Dear John Keats Funny that it’s had to come to this. But when I think of it … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Quarantine announcement expected today for arrivals, John Tamihere accused of test-seeking dishonesty, and Cyclone Harold smashes Pacific. An announcement is expected today on mandatory 14-day quarantine for all arrivals at the border, in an effort to prevent outbreaks of Covid-19. That comes from Newshub’s political editor Tova O’Brien, … Read more
Bulk testing of samples could be the way forward for coronavirus surveillance in New Zealand, reports Mirjam Guesgen. With the number of completed coronavirus tests in New Zealand breaking 4,000 in a day on Tuesday, scientists are looking at more efficient tests to push that number even higher. By testing samples from multiple people all … Read more
This Passover, we won’t be attending synagogue, we won’t be participating in large raucous dinners and sharing our food with our extended family and friends, we won’t be welcoming strangers into our homes, as Jewish people are instructed to do, writes Juliet Moses. Tonight, on what is hopefully the halfway point of our lockdown period, … Read more
The latest in our new series of charts, graphics and data visualisations by Chris McDowall. This work is entirely funded by the generosity of The Spinoff Members These posts collate the most recent statistics and present them as charts and maps. The Ministry of Health typically publishes data updates in the early afternoon, which describe … Read more
Māori will likely make up the worst unemployment figures in the forthcoming economic recession. Things can’t go back to the way they were, writes Joshua Hitchcock. Our world has changed. While it is too early to know with any certainty what the full impact of this crisis will be on Māori, what we can surmise … Read more
‘New Zealand leads world in public perception of Covid-19 response,’ says pollster Colmar Brunton. Public support for the official New Zealand response to the Covid-19 outbreak remains high, and well ahead of the world’s richest coutries, new polling suggests. The numbers show New Zealanders’ backing for measures “far outstrips the response in any of the … Read more
Launching a new series, 60 Seconds with Siouxsie, the inimitable Dr Wiles has a few sharp words for anyone thinking they might catch up with neighbours for a drink or a chat, even at a couple of metres apart. In our first video, made possible by the support of Spinoff members, Siouxsie Wiles has a … Read more
A simple, long overdue change in New Zealand’s policy for blood donations would benefit everyone, writes Dr Oliver Armstrong-Scott. The New Zealand Blood Service recently pleaded for Kiwis to continue donating blood during the Covid-19 lockdown to ensure supplies do not run out. As a medical doctor, I have seen firsthand the absolute necessity of … Read more
Tonight New Zealand marks the halfway point of alert level four. Assuming, that is, it ends on schedule. What will determine the decision to lift the strictest restrictions, and what comes next? Kate Newton of RNZ asks the experts. Covid-19 researchers in New Zealand are optimistic that the level four restrictions could be lifted in … Read more
The On the Rag team meet one more time to talk about how the Covid-19 crisis affects women and what you can do to cope. It’s our last podcast for a little while so crack open a bottle of something fizzy and join us as we undergo what is basically a group therapy session. We … Read more
‘Yes, it’s endearing that the PM said that the Easter Bunny is an essential service but I wondered how many kids had a hope in hell of seeing three good meals a day let alone a chocolate egg.’ Read more Lockdown Letters here. Bob Dylan’s latest, Murder Most Foul, is an interesting and enticing listen. … Read more