Like a Pro: My Plague Timeline

I copied the italic portion of the timeline from May 3 post for my benefit. It's been a little unnerving not gauging life against Corona/levels timeline in this strange year. As many of you will agree, time in 2020 seem to pass so quickly and so slowly at the same time, and since June 9/Level 1 I've felt as if I lost an anchor. Strange because without anchor/calendar is how I've lived my life for the last several years, and it is not to say I enjoy a plague lockdown, but I also can't hide this strange new comfort I find in the collective, national timeline.   

* February 3, 2020, Diamond Princess quarantined at the port of Yokohama, my home town.
* February 28, first confirmed case in New Zealand.
* March 5-14, there were five positive cases for ten days, prompting now-celebrated Ashley Bloomfiled to reject all kinds of measures because, "We [are] not there yet," which is why I am not a fan. Always reactive, even when proven wrong, (need for testing, PPE guidance/rules regarding supplies to medical professionals, and lay people wearing cloth masks,) he's adamant. We could have done even better.   
* March 21, Jacinda announced the four alert level system. Two cases, #40/#41, tested positive in Nelson.
* March 23, Jacinda announced we would be entering Level 4 on March 26. (In retrospect, with each of her announcements, we entered Level 2 on March 21, Level 3 on March 23.)
* March 26, we started the "initial" four weeks of Level 4 isolation.
* April 28, we moved to Alert Level 3. The most notable change is the reopening of food pickup/delivery.
* May 14, we moved to Alert Level 2. Reopening of different organizations are staggered; school on Monday, bars a week later. For all intents and purposes, most businesses are open under a slightly loosened social distancing rules. Focus has moved to tracking.
* June 9, we moved to Alert Level 1. This allowed us to "go back to normal" within the borders, while the borders stay open only to returning NZ citizens and residents, and people with special dispensation, mostly business-related. 

* August 11, 2020, Day 102 of no domestic transmission, one family in Auckland had four members test positive, though there were no immediate connection to overseas travel. Jacinda announced Auckland Region will go into Level 3 and the rest of us to Level 2 starting midday August 12 to the end of August 14 unless a different announcement followed. We had been warned for some days that the resurgence is a matter of when not if, and I can't help wondering if they knew something, or it's just that other places have had genuine Second Wave around that time. All I remember is Viet Nam, on their day 101.
* August 12, Ben started working from home again.
* August 14, Level 3 for Auckland and Level 2 for the rest of the country will continue until the end of the day August 26 unless otherwise announced.
* August 30, Auckland moved to Level 2.5 while the rest of the country remains in Level 2.  

* September 22, areas outside Auckland moved to Level 1. 

* September 24, Auckland moved to Level 2. 

* September 25, Ben resumed working at work, in town. 

* October 8, Auckland also moved to Level 1.  

* February 15, 2021, after three community cases were discovered in Auckland, Auckland region was placed in Level 3, the rest of the country in Level 2, provisionally for 72 hours. Ben worked from home.

* February 18, even though two more cases were discovered connected to the original three, the spread was deemed "contained", and Auckland was placed in Level 2, the rest of the country back to Level 1. Masks became mandatory on all public transport in all regions.

* February 23, Auckland returned to Level 1 as well. Mask requirement remains. 

 

* February 27, 2021, it was announced starting February 28, Auckland will return to Level 3, the rest of us to Level 2, provisionally for seven days, due to the ongoing February cluster with a new strain. 

* March 7, Auckland returned to Alert Level 2, the rest of the country to Level 1. 

* At midday March 12, Auckland returned to Level 1. 

* June 23, 2021, Wellington went into to Level 2 due to Australian visitors visiting over the weekend testing positive upon their return. The rest of the country remain in Level 1. 

* June 30, Wellington rejoined the rest of the country at Level 1.

* August 17, 2021, one community case emerged in Auckland, most likely Delta variant. Level 4 lockdown was announced starting midnight, provisionally for 7 days in Auckland and the Coromandel, 3 days for the rest of the country. 

* August 20, Lockdown Level 4 will remain in place for all of New Zealand until the end of Tuesday, August 24. Cabinet to meet on Monday to decide what will happen after Wednesday.  

* August 23, Lockdown Level 4 will remain in place for all of New Zealand until the end of Friday, August 27; Auckland will remain in Level 4 until Tuesday, August 31. 

* August 27. All regions south of Auckland will move to Level 3, (known as "Level 4 with takeaway",) from Wednesday, September 1. Auckland and Northland regions' levels will be reassessed on Monday, August 20, although Auckland is likely to remain in Level 4 for another fortnight. 

* August 29. Not sure if it's worth keeping notes on all these announcements, but here goes. Auckland will stay in Level 4 for probably two more weeks. Regions south of Auckland will go into Level 3 on Wednesday, although the definition of Level 3 may be tweaked. Northland is likely to go into Level 3 on Friday. 

* September 1. All regions south of Auckland entered Level 3. 

* September 3. Northland entered Level 3.  

* September 7. All regions except Auckland entered Level "Delta 2".

* September 13. Auckland remains in Level 4, the rest of the country in Level Delta 2, for another week. 

* September 22. Auckland and northern Waikato enter Level 3; the rest of the country Level (normal) 2. 

* September 26. Northern Waikato enters Level 2. Auckland remains in Level 3.

* October 4. Portions of Waikatot enters Level 3 after positive cases and hospitalization. 

* October 6. Auckland enters Level 3 (with picnic.) Waikatot Level 3 (no picnic) areas is extended. 

* October 9. Northland returns to Level 3 (no picnic) for four days.

* October 13. Northland and parts of Waikato remain in Level 3 (no picnic) until Monday October 25. 

* October 20. Northland joins Level 2. 

* October 28. Parts of Waikato previously in Level 3 (no picnic) moves to Level 3 (with picnic).

(There might have been more incremental/localized changes in part of the North Island I missed.)   

* December 3. The country moved to traffic light system Orange, areas of the North Island including Auckland which remained Red. The traffic light system also meant the implementation of vaccine passports; the rules around them depend on the traffic light color, but more largely on the independent councils/businesses/organizations.   

* December 15. Travel in/out of Auckland became conditionally free.  

* December 16. First Omicron case, found at the border, was announced. It was later discovered this was the second case to arrive at New Zealand.
* December 31. All regions except Northland moved to Orange. 

 

* January 21, 2022. Northland moved to Orange, making the whole country at the same level. 

* January 24. I'm loosing the plot on what's happening, the new rules, and the new jargon, (which reflects many folks' understanding of the current stage.) Due to an Omicron cluster being discovered in Motueka, northwest of Nelson, after attending a wedding in Auckland, the whole country moved back to Red. Locatnions of Interest lists were effectively phased out while more emphasis on self-diagnosed symptoms became the main measure of testing requirement.   

* February 13. Anti-vax/mask/mandate/1020 demonstrator gather in front of Parliament in Wellington, parking on the streets, pitching tents, throwing feces at police, and holding concerts. One number I read was 3000 people and 800 vehicles, but haven't confirmed. Demonstrators sometimes use children as human shields to face police.

* February 16. Move to Omicron Response Phase 2, which means shortening of isolation period. Testing/lab facilities overworked and strike proposed; some locations required over 5 hours waiting. 

* February 25. Move to Omicron Response Phase 3, which means a much shorter and limited scope of isolation, i.e. only confirmed positive cases and household contacts. Rapid Antigen test will become the primary testing method, and testing locations increased. (Still unavailable for purchase.)  

* February 26-ish. Locations of Interest no longer published. 

* February 28. Kiwis returning from Australia, if vaccinated, (unclear if 2 or 3 shots required,) and test negative, (within a certain time frame and using a certain method, I haven''t checked because these have changed in the past,) no longer need to go into Managed Isolation. Kiwis returning from elsewhere will follow; this includes Kiwis leaving in future for "a holiday" for example, returning from overseas. 

* March 1. In view of exploding Omicron cases, daily 1PM updates, mainly by Top Doc Bloomfield, resume. 

* March 23. While Omicron numbers, hospitalization and deaths have been skyrocketing, (NZ has a pretty bad per-million numbers in many areas now; little old Nelson/Marlborough, for e.g. had 600 new community cases today,) in the next couple of weeks, there will be no tracing/scanning, allowed crowd size increased, and vaccination mandates scrapped. Only mask-wearing is "encouraged" in some indoor situations, and... for some reason they traffic light system is going to be kept. For what I don't know. So, unless we go into another lockdown or similar, I think this is the end of my record-keeping regarding Plague in New Zealand 2020-22. 

* September 13. Traffic light system was abandoned. All but minimal masking rules, (in health facilities including pharmacies, and aged-care facilities,) was abandoned. Numbers to be reported weekly, but case numbers are based on individuals reporting after testing positive, so it is speculated actual numbers to be around four times reported numbers.
* October 17. While case numbers started to creep up again, and BQ1.1 was found in Wellington on October 13, Ben goes back to work-work. It has been three months since our second, last, booster. NZ government has no plan for third boosters, or Omicron-specific ones, until 2023.