covid-19

Covid-19 live updates, April 8: Support for schools announced; public urged to avoid Easter travel

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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 Bulletin: We all need to use less water

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Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Dire warnings about water levels, tentative good news on Covid-19 case numbers, and local government struggles for funding. The seriousness of this issue has largely gone unnoticed amid everything else, but if we don’t address it now things could get pretty bad. The state of water … Read more

Newly arrived refugees in limbo in lockdown New Zealand

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A new life has been put on hold for people in the Auckland resettlement centre, writes Greta Yeoman. For the 135 refugees based at the Māngere Refugee Resettlement Centre in Auckland, plans to resettle in towns across New Zealand towards the end of April are up in the air with the country four-week-long Covid-19 lockdown … Read more

The new online community exploring the possibilities of a post-Covid world

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Amid the seemingly endless bad news at the moment, a new initiative is trying to get people to think positively. While the world may seem like it’s slowed to a crawl, there are still people out there creating and innovating. The Covid-19 pandemic has drastically altered how we’re living, but aspects of this change could … Read more

Five ways the Covid-19 crisis could change our tax system

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From the reemerging debate around capital gains tax to the increasing reach of tax authorities, Terry Baucher, writing for interest.co.nz, looks at a number of implications the coronavirus pandemic could have on the tax system.  “There are decades when nothing happens and there are weeks when decades happen,” Lenin is said to have remarked, possibly … Read more

Covid-19 live updates, April 7: Mental health resource Getting Through Together now available

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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

Covid-19: New Zealand cases mapped and charted, April 7

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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

Rock ‘n’ roll dreams do come true (even during a pandemic)

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The locked-down residents of a Wellington rest home – including her mum – are treated to a live gig courtesy of historian and author Rachel Buchanan (Taranaki, Te Ātiawa). Ever since I was Dorothy in the New Plymouth Operatic Society’s production of The Wizard of Oz, I have wanted an international music career. Some 40 … Read more

How to support small local food businesses during the lockdown

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The way we buy our food has changed hugely since the lockdown began. Small New Zealand producers have taken a massive hit, closing stores and struggling with online demand. Here are some ways shoppers can help these businesses. In the first week of lockdown, shoppers panicked. It was a perfectly natural response to the fear … Read more

Why danger pay is not OK

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Our essential workers deserve more than a round of applause, but danger pay is not the answer, writes Kerry Davies from the Public Service Association. Did you shower this morning? Is the kitchen clean? Have you changed your sheets since we went into lockdown? Have you vacuumed? Are you taking that rubbish out? For most … Read more

Easter is a time of reflection and reckoning, especially during lockdown

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Reverend Scottie Reeve on the meaning of Easter during the Covid-19 pandemic, and why we need to embark on a journey of collective repentance.  On Wednesday while I was going for a walk, I came across a friend on the Wellington waterfront. We’ll call him David. David had no idea what was happening at the … Read more

Lockdown letters #12, Morgan Godfery: Decay, domesticity and doomsday prepping

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‘Paint is peeling from the old truck workshop walls. Some days you can taste rust on the autumn wind, like swallowing iron and blood and pollen.’ Read more Lockdown Letters here IT’S GONE BELLY UP FOR THE WORLD. I bet the doomsday preppers are feeling smug right now, locking down in their DIY bunkers. The … Read more

The crowdsourced site to beat the lockdown supermarket queues

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For those keen to avoid the long and awkward queues at supermarkets, there may be a new technological solution. Long supermarket lines have become the bane of the lockdown era, with many people worried that the overcrowding and long wait times may burst their bubbles. Those concerns have prompted a Dunedin-based software engineer to create … Read more

The Bulletin: Health minister David Clark demoted

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Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Health minister David Clark suffers major demotion, government launches mental health tools, and more outline given on decision to leave lockdown. In breaking news, health minister David Clark has been severely demoted by the Prime Minister. Last week, a story came out about him driving to … Read more

Helping people say goodbye, apart: A funeral director on life under lockdown

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From managing the expectations of friends and whānau to making sure there’s enough PPE, Jihee Junn talks to an Auckland-based funeral director about what their job has been like under Covid-19.  More than 400 people are said to have died during New Zealand’s first week under level four lockdown. Only one had a direct connection … Read more

What is contact tracing and why is it so crucial to escaping Covid-19 lockdown?

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If and when New Zealand exits alert level four and its restrictions, contact tracing becomes the most important tool we have to prevent having to lockdown all over again. So what does it involve, and are we doing enough of it? Just quickly – what is contact tracing?  Contact tracing is what happens to determine … Read more

Siouxsie Wiles & Toby Morris: Should we all be wearing face masks to prevent Covid-19 spread?

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The face mask question is more complicated than it might at first seem, explains Siouxsie Wiles. The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 crisis is only possible because of the support of members. If you can, please consider joining Spinoff Members here. Read Toby Morris’s new Side Eye comic, created with Siouxsie Wiles, here. And more of Siouxsie’s … Read more

Covid-19: New Zealand cases mapped and charted, April 6

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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 presents them as charts and maps. The Ministry of Health typically publishes data updates in the early afternoon, which describe … Read more

Feeling in the dark about what Covid-19 means for your money? We’re here to help

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In times of economic uncertainty, good information can be an invaluable commodity. So we’ve been working on a way to channel it to you. For many people, knowing what to do in our radically changing economy is like trying to figure out what to do when the power in your house stops working. You’re at … Read more

The novel coronavirus: On writing a pandemic, then watching it play out

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Laura Jean McKay is hunkered down in Palmerston North but her much-hyped novel The Animals in That Country is out there in the world – earlier than expected, too, because it’s about a strange new flu. Two women stand close to each other in an aisle labelled CANS. They’re young, with strong pink arms in … Read more

Sorry Trump, there’s little evidence that hydroxychloroquine can treat Covid-19

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Today President Trump again touted hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for Covid-19, despite a lack of good evidence that it is safe or effective against the coronavirus. Here’s what we do know about the drug Trump calls a ‘game changer’. On Saturday the US Food and Drug Administration granted authorisation of two antimalarial drugs, hydroxychloroquine … Read more

Lockdown letters #11, Ashleigh Young: Reaching for the cherries

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‘When you reach for the exact same thing day after day, your grasp on everything else in the world loosens.’ Read more Lockdown Letters here At the end of 2001, my brother JP and I picked cherries and thinned apples at an orchard just outside Blenheim. It was hot and tiring work and it took … Read more

The Bulletin: Debate on when to leave the lockdown

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Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Debate over leaving lockdown fires up, how the tax system could change after Covid-19, and concerns as cyclone bears down on Vanuatu. Over the last few days, a debate has started to fire up about leaving level four restrictions, and restarting some of the economic activity … Read more

The next big thing in Covid-19 testing could be floating beneath you

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Scientists hope to seek evidence of the coronavirus, or its absence, in wastewater. Mirjam Guesgen explains. The fight against Covid-19 is headed for the sewers, with New Zealand scientists hoping to analyse wastewater samples for signs of the coronavirus. Tests would allow health authorities to see whether New Zealand’s elimination strategy has worked, said Michael … Read more

The growing list of ‘essential products’ you can order under lockdown

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Since the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment relaxed the rules around the supply of essential non-food items last week, more businesses are announcing that their online stores are up and running. Some things, however, are not what leaps to mind as ‘essential’. Under the new policy allowing essential non-food items to be supplied, MBIE … Read more

Covid-19 live updates, April 6: $5.3bn paid out in wage subsidy scheme, PM says it’s time to ‘double down’ on efforts

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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

Siouxsie Wiles: On Covid-19, we have to build the plane as we fly it

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Siouxsie Wiles on the vitriolic correspondence she’s received since the Covid-19 outbreak struck, and the realities of communicating evidence. I recently received an email and text from someone telling me they are planning to email my boss, the University of Auckland vice chancellor. They are going to ask for me to “be brought before the … Read more

Lockdown letters #10, Fiona Farrell: On Ardern and kindness

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In our new series The Lockdown Letters, five of New Zealand’s best writers chronicle the days of Covid-19 alert level four. Today, Fiona Farrell. There’s a sign sticky-taped to the bakery window. Closed Until Further Notice. Stay Safe NZ and Be Kind. We will get through this! We all know where the words come from: Jacinda … Read more

The lockdown has a new legal basis – but does it makes the rules any clearer?

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On Friday night, the government quietly laid down some lockdown rules via a legal order under the Health Act. Law professor Andrew Geddis explains what it means for all of us (including David Clark).  As the first week of level four lockdown unfolded, mounting questions grew as to just what was (and was not) allowed … Read more