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Home > Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive > Andrew Dickens: Congratulations New Zealand, we're in Orange


	Podcast:		Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive
	Episode:		Andrew Dickens: Congratulations New Zealand, we're in Orange
	Category:		News & Politics
	Duration:		00:03:56
	Publish Date:		2022-04-13 04:34:26
	Description:		So, congratulations New Zealand. We're in Orange. 2 years and 1 month after the first lockdown we emerge into the autumn sun. I can go to my Midnight Oil gig I've been holding the tickets for forever. My better half has been looking at the cost of airfares to New York. Everyone in my immediate family has kept their jobs. The vaccine mandates have effectively gone for most. Only 1 person in my extended family has died. High five. Essentially though this will make no difference to the life I'm already living. I've been going to the gym every day. I've been coming to work, I've been using public transport. I've actually been to more restaurants and cafes than ever have as I look to support hospo. But I know that there are many people who haven't been that free and today will be a revolution. Enjoy it. So, to masks. Which remains an area of regulation. Explaining where and when fell to Chris Hipkins today, Despite knowing this would be a thing he managed to fluff it and confuse everyone. Nor did he have a pithy answer when asked, "under orange, you can pash a stranger on a dancefloor, but you still have to wear a mask at a supermarket." This sort of question was so predictable. You would have thought he'd be ready for it. But these are unanswerable questions. Because mask policy has always been in the hands of the people, not the authorities. It's about personal responsibility and your concern for others. So, in schools, students and teachers will no longer have to wear masks. It's no secret that schools have been the major vector of the Omicron outbreak. One school I know claims that a third of its roll has been down with it on any given day. Every family I know with school-age children have gone down with it. Therefore, if I was a teacher, particularly one that had avoided catching Covid thus far I'd be masking up. Similarly, I'll be masking up in retail stores if I can and on public transport and anywhere where I feel threatened. What I absolutely will not do though is tolerate any abuse about my mask wear. If you've been arguing my body, my choice all pandemic you'll know exactly where I'm coming from. So be kind, actually, the Prime Minister's Be Kind mantra was always a bit twee for me. My version is more like, just don't be a dick. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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