DEFCON 4

With just over 100 confirmed COVID-19 cases, New Zealand is about to enter 'Alert Status 4'. As from Wednesday the country will, for all intents of purposes, close down. None essential services will cease and none essential shops and outlets will close. Travel will be restricted and folk are asked to self-isolate as far as is possible.

On the home front: Flaxen Hall has gone into lockdown. The family has gathered and we will hunker down (I may be the exception) until normality resumes. The powers that be reckon that we will stay at status 4 for at least a month. After four weeks the situation will be reviewed. Extreme measures for extreme times. The plan is that viral transmission will be choked out, or more realistically, the infection rate will be reduced thus preventing the swamping of hospitals and ancillary services. And let us not forget the medical staff.

On the work front: already the laboratory staff have been split into two separate teams. Team One works Monday to Wednesday, while Team Two takes over on Thursday and continues to cover  Friday and Saturday. Each team puts in a 10 hour day. As I only work two days a week I have been unaffected by the new regimen. I suspect the plan will continue for now, although in the future our role as geneticists may change as staff members become sick, samples numbers decline and we are required to take on ancillary roles within the health service. It has already been mooted that we may become involved in COVID-19 testing. As far as I can see, testing is relatively simple and we have the necessary analytical machinery on site. Furthermore, we may be called upon to perform mundane, but highly important tasks, such as general orderly duties- only time will tell.

We certainly live in interesting times. So, to all my readers: keep well and look after each other.