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Fatigue strikes locked down Ak

Caroline Williams

Auckland is facing growing lockdown fatigue with residents yesterday abandoning the rules in favour of the beach.

Police cracked down on rule-breakers, including four people who were infringed for travelling from O¯ ta¯huhu to go fishing at Mission Bay, where it was particularly busy.

O¯ ra¯kei Local Board chair Scott Milne said it was ‘‘just not on’’ that Aucklanders from across the region were flocking to Mission Bay. ‘‘We need to be mindful of how thin the ice is that we’re skating on.’’

He branded the behaviour selfish. ‘‘There’s a very, very small minority mucking it up for the rest of us. We’re in the home straight... if only we can all stick together for a little bit longer, and keep our distance, we should get through it.’’

The sunny weather also proved tempting for North Shore residents who flocked to Takapuna Beach, where social distancing appeared to be patchy.

North Shore councillor Chris Darby agreed it had been a ‘‘beautiful spring day’’, but said it was critical Aucklanders didn’t drop their guard. ‘‘This virus, it will grab any opportunity it gets to transmit. The very smallest of slip-ups can have far-reaching and dire consequences.’’

Darby said, for the most part, Aucklanders had dealt with lockdown extremely well, but he acknowledged that for many families it had been a time of unimaginable stress.

North Shore MP Simon Watts agreed, adding that mental health had been challenged after five weeks of lockdown.

There were 20 new community cases of Covid-19 in Auckland yesterday with today marking the longest amount of time any part of the country has been in alert level 4.

However, epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker said it’s not so much the number, but the pattern of cases that could stop Auckland from moving down to alert level 3 at 11.59pm on Tuesday.

‘‘Unexpected cases and unlinked cases are much more important than the total.’’

Usually a portion of the daily cases were household contacts, and therefore already in MIQ, Baker added. These were ‘‘far less important’’ during the Government’s consideration of alert levels compared to if they were unexpected community cases.

Baker sympathised with those reaching their lockdown limits, especially those whose circumstances made it harder for them to adhere to the rules.

‘‘Hopefully in the next three days we see an end to unexpected cases. That would be very good news.’’

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en-nz

2021-09-19T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-09-19T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/281638193340495

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