This article was first published in Touchstone in May 2020.
The daily briefings on Covid 19 provide us with the latest data on confirmed & probable cases, numbers of people who have recovered from the virus, numbers in hospital and a breakdown of statistics by district health board, age and gender. However, it does not show the reality of life in lockdown that is experienced very differently by whānau in Aotearoa.
We are well aware that the transmission of infectious diseases is greater in areas where there is social deprivation, in poor quality housing, in crowded households, and where there is poor nutrition, and fuel and heating poverty. It should therefore be no surprise that COVID-19 will have different impacts in different communities and different whānau.
Doing it easy
Charles and Charlotte live in a leafy upper middle class neighbourhood. They have designated a person to visit the supermarket and are able to buy ample food to last a month as well as treats to make life in lockdown a little easier. Charlotte is a dietician and has recently arranged delivery of fruit, vegetables, meat, fish and meal kits online. This leaves her free to supervise their children’s schooling which they are doing online as well.
The family connect regularly with other family members and friends via Zoom and during their daily walks they admire the chalk drawings on the footpaths and the work people are doing in their gardens. Charles works from home in his study. Charlotte maintains her gym routine on her gym equipment and the programmes online group. Charles and Charlotte eat lunch outside and are enjoying the extra use of their outdoor furniture. They really appreciate the extra birdlife that the lockdown has brought to their suburb and the peace and quiet of fewer cars on the street. They have three bathrooms in their five bedroom home and thankfully the children are helping to clean as their regular housekeeper cannot come during lockdown.
Doing it hard
Tai and Ana have three children and live in a three bedroom Kāinga Ora house. Ana says she is doing better than her friend who has four children and lives in a unit with her partner, her parents and her cousin. Tai was made redundant before the lockdown and Ana was a full time caregiver for their children, one of whom has special needs. They were managing to live pay day by pay day, but now they are struggling to make ends meet. They are relying on food banks to provide staples and with what money they have left over from rent, electricity and phone, they buy extra food staples. The family shared one Easter egg, but there are no spare funds for chalk to draw on the footpath. Tai & Ana cannot afford unlimited internet access and Tai needs this to apply for jobs. So their children are entertained by the TV and they are struggling to keep up with their school work as it is hard to read this on Ana’s phone. Their children are easily frustrated, argue with each other and their parents, have become disillusioned and disengaged with school work and they are missing their school friends.
Tai and Ana have often lived apart when the violence got bad. This provided time for each of them to cool off. They were having difficulties prior to the lockdown and the stress of everyone being together all the time and the money worries are increasing tensions. Ana is concerned that if the violence gets worse she will not be able to hide it from her children and will be unable to call for help. She thinks staying at home is becoming risky and unsafe for her and her children.
Added to this is the pressure from family for Ana’s elderly parents to move in with Tai and Ana. Ana is the only child that lives in the same region as her elderly parents and they are struggling with the isolation and the regular support and meals that Ana used to provide for them. They are frightened and afraid but live on the other side of the city in a one bedroom unit and Ana does not have spare money for petrol to visit them even if she was allowed.
Closing the gap post COVID-19
The socio-economic divide in Aotearoa has been driven further apart in lockdown. When lockdown is lifted, Charlotte and Charles, already mortgage free, expect to have saved money as they have not been able to spend like they normally do. Charles will return to work, Charlotte to her regular gym sessions and lunches with friends. Their children will return to their private schooling and their relationships which they have maintained via Zoom.
However the reality for Tai and Ana is significantly different. Tai secretly believes he will be one of the increasing numbers of unemployed and will struggle to get a job and provide for his family, which he desperately wants to do. Ana & Tai are deeply worried about their increasing debt they owe to loan sharks as well as the credit card companies. They are both really anxious about what the future will hold for them and their children. Though they would never admit it to each other or to themselves, despair is starting to grow.
This widening social and economic divide and growing despair is the hidden outcomes of Covid 19 briefing. In Aotearoa with our high rates of suicide, self-harm and mental health issues and a mental health system that was already struggling, these outcomes are even more alarming.
During the 1918 flu pandemic Māori died at a rate seven times higher than that of non-Māori.[1] The Child Poverty Monitor informs us that children living in the highest deprivation areas are three times more likely to end up in hospital than children living in the lowest deprivation areas.[2] Covid 19 will impact those living with the highest need more. They will face increased hardship. Their inability to pay for proper food, adequate heating, and warm clothes for winter will make these whānau at higher risk of catching Covid 19, as well as a range of other diseases.
So as we unite against Covid 19, we need to look beyond our own social bubble. We need to be honest enough to ask the hard questions. We need to be kind enough to recognise the inequality in the society where we live and courageous enough to do something about it.
Covid 19 has given us the opportunity to reassess what is important to us. What would a society where everyone is treated with dignity and able to flourish look like? What will you do to enable this to happen? Can those of us who have been blessed with more share with those of us that have less?
Now is the time to bring everyone together, to enable everyone to flourish, rather than accepting the status quo, and not looking at or changing the inequity. Now is the time to enact the changes recommended by the Welfare Expert Advisory Group. Now is the time to stand up for those without a voice and tell their stories so we can all live better lives. Now is the time for change. Now is the time to make courageous decisions about how we want Aotearoa to look like in a post Covid 19 future.
Carol Barron, Methodist Alliance National Coordinator, Carol@MethodistAlliance.org.nz
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/26/new-zealand-must-learn-lessons-of-1918-pandemic-and-protect-maori-from-covid-19
[2] https://www.childpoverty.org.nz/measures/health
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