Day Twentysix; For whom does the bell toll

The bell in the bell tower of the old Ponsonby Fire Station hasn't been rung in many years, and for most of the last 40 years it has functioned as a restaurant. Set against the western sky as sunset approached, it made an appealing sight.

A dozen New Zealanders have died in the last month due to Covid-19 infection. All were older persons. Which fact has resulted in nay-sayers claiming that the lockdown was unnecessary, because the seasonal flu would have been at least as bad as this. 

It was never believed that New Zealand would get through this world wide pandemic without deaths. The aim was, nevertheless, to minimise the number of deaths, by minimising the number of citizens who became infected, and to ensure that we always had sufficient medical and nursing resource to safely treat all who needed treating. It was obvious from the example of many countries, not the least Italy and currently the United States of America, that the more people who become sick the more the chances of death, especially if there is insufficient resource available to treat everyone who needs treatment.

This bell would toll for the thankfully small number of people who have died in this country. And it would then ring out joyously to thank the New Zealanders who agreed with our Prime Minister, health chiefs and scientists, and have limited greatly the spread of the virus through our community.

One more week of Level 4 lockdown and then a minimum of two weeks at level three.