Sunday evening 5 April
Easter Greetings to all.
Well these events will certainly make 2020 a year which will long be remembered. Hopefully all of you and your families are well and coping with the limitations being placed on our lives.
Some of us are lucky(?) enough to be still working from home (and hoping our clients/customers will have funds to pay us in due course). For others working from home is a new experience and hopefully you are still being paid. Some may not be so lucky unable to work and having to amuse yourselves to while away the time but getting some funds to exist on. Yet others who have no job and having to exist on the generosity of Work and Income. Those on pensions – well you were born lucky eh!.
Whatever your circumstances don’t let it worry you in silence. Irena Giles is our almoner (tazo@xtra.co.nz) Mob 021-393-936 Res 576-2553. You will not be the only ones in our Club going through your experience. By the time you read this we may know whether the lockdown is to be extended or lowered a level. On the lighter side feel sorry for those of our membership who have water views and are in walking distance of the sea – no swimming, boating etc!!
For those of you planning to break the rules you could spend time writing to the Department of Justice for a certificate which says you spent x days on Home Detention and when you get sentenced to HD you can say to the Judge “Please your Honour ……..”
Covid-19 by numbers.
It is all about the numbers! Some of us watch the News Conferences at 1 p.m and 3 p.m on NZTV One and are given the figures for the virus with no relationship to anything else. NZ has had 1 death due to the virus (although there were other issues as well.) According to the figures available on the Net NZ has approximately 34,000 deaths a year (2020 Rate) i.e 94 deaths per day on average. We have had 11 days (to Sunday 5th of Lockdown. That means 1034 people have died since the Lockdown started on 25 March. Scoreboard NZ "1034" Covid19 "1". Perhaps we have been lucky. There was no mention of this figure.
Figures for Italy and Spain are quoted at about 700 to 800 deaths per day. We assume they are virus related and announced with such seriousness we are led to believe it is coming after us. Daily deaths for Italy 1,765 Spain 1,180.
In 12 months or so we will get a better idea. There should be a noticeable blip in the graph showing deaths over the last 70 years. The death rate from the virus(?) in the USA 3,500 to date (not sure about the days). USA has 8,053 deaths per day per day!
The figures quoted in NZ are Cases actual (advised or aware of) Number suspected, Number recovered, Number in hospital, Number in ICU (Intensive Care Units) Deaths. The numbers are not comparative. We should be told of the number of Cases to which the recoveries relate.
Apart from Italy about 4% of the cases result in death and because of the skewed comparison it is likely to be higher in the wash up may be 5-6%.
Hope that gives you some context next time you watch the televised News Conference. Pay particular attention to what Jacinda says from Conference to Conference and when a politician fronts with someone from a Department.
Enjoy your Easter.
Terry