How long should we be patient?

Asigh of relief was heard all across the motu. Despite having two community cases of the infectious Delta variant of Covid-19, Christchurch stayed at level two. The short, sharp lockdown that was threatened can stay in the toolkit. There were, as Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said yesterday, ‘‘no major exposure events’’, and the two people live in an area with high first-vaccination levels.

But the sense of relief we feel should not be allowed to obscure the very real issues that have arisen from these cases.

It was reported that neither has been vaccinated, and that their use of QR code scanning was low. One of the pair flew to Auckland and back, using a childcare exemption, although Covid tests before the flights produced negative results.

The second person, who was infected by the first, is a truck driver who drove around Christchurch and north of the city in the days before testing positive.

As has been said again and again, compulsory vaccination is impossible to justify. Yet it is also reasonable to say that many New Zealanders are becoming increasingly impatient with those who refuse to be vaccinated without a good reason. And to be fair, we do not yet know the reasons in this case.

It is said that New Zealand is divided over vaccination. In fact, nearly 90 per cent of those who are eligible for the jab have willingly done their bit, at least once. They do this to protect themselves, but also to protect others. They recognise a social responsibility.

QR code scanning and mask wearing have the same motivations. Both are a nuisance, but codes help with the rapid identification of contacts. We cannot rely on faulty memories of events from two weeks, or even a week, earlier.

The near miss in Christchurch should also be considered a wake-up call, and not just for those in the south. We cannot be complacent about vaccination, scanning and mask-wearing, and we should be less tolerant of people who deliberately peddle misinformation about vaccines and imagine sinister agendas behind health measures.

The Government’s rhetoric is increasingly about putting the onus on New Zealanders to end the lockdowns and levels phase of the pandemic by getting vaccinated and moving us all into the traffic lights phase and a normal Christmas. And while much of what can be said about the Christchurch cases concerns the things we should all be doing, there are still aspects beyond our control.

Two obvious questions arise. Should people be able to fly domestically and cross internal borders while unvaccinated? While a childcare exemption can usually be justified, we can also ask if it outweighs the risk to others.

Secondly, should a truck driver be able to work while unvaccinated or can we consider that a person in a job as mobile as that, even if they are not public-facing, should come under the umbrella of mandatory vaccinations?

The Christchurch cases overshadowed longsignalled changes to the managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) system, with vaccinated travellers spending only seven days in MIQ, rather than 14 days, from November 14.

We have seen fewer and fewer positive cases in MIQ and, according to National’s Covid spokesperson, Chris Bishop, only two cases have been picked up in the second week of MIQ since August 23.

It is the end of an era and we welcome it.

Nearly 90 per cent of those eligible for the jab have willingly done their bit, at least once.