It’s just another whack with a bommy knocker

• Published date: 17 February 2022
• Publication title: Mountain Scene

I know some of you, well, most of you if the comments section is representative of the wider public view (a chat for another day), think this is all a storm in a teacup and mighty hoo-ha over a ‘‘cold’’

I don’t have a view either way on that.

But for those of you who, still, are struggling to understand what the ‘‘big fuss’’ is all about and why Queenstown’s ‘‘whinging again’’, look at our place right now.

Go for a wee wander around the CBD at 7pm.

In less than seven days, this ‘‘cold’’ has virtually shut our town centre down due to the government’s response to it, affecting every industry and bringing our economy to a grinding halt.

The worst thing is knowing we’re now on the Omi-go-round.

There’ll be many of us who, once we’ve either recovered or had to isolate, will go back to work and, almost inevitably, find ourselves having to go through the whole dog’s breakfast again.

Already, a desire to avoid that, is seeing people being, well, creative, because they can’t afford to have mass staff absence.

You need look no further than Republic to see the impact of Omicron — by Tuesday they had more than 50 staff in self-isolation, and a few more who’d tested positive.

Five of their venues had pinged between last Thursday and Tuesday, one of them eight times.

The response being forced on us is the antithesis of ‘‘living with Covid’’.

It’s a pseudo lockdown, by any and every other name, without, so far, any financial support ... though rumour has it the government’s set to make an announcement on that today or tomorrow.

I was going to say our situation’s the definition of an unintended consequence, but I’ll have a rare punt and say there’s nothing unintended about it.

If three-quarters of our town, alone, is at home self-isolating for seven days, for now, that cheeky wee virus doesn’t have much opportunity to spread, provided you’re actually self-isolating.

But, even better, for the government, because it’s not technically a ‘‘lockdown’’, the financial assistance they can, and will, provide is a lot less spenky.

It’s kind of genius when you think about.

It’s also another whack over the head with a bommy knocker for all of the businesses and industries who have, for at least 18 months, been grappling with staffing shortages.

They might, technically, be able to keep doors open.

But remember how before last week (was it really only last week?) so many of the hospo venues, in particular, were having to adjust hours and close down for a couple of days a week ’cos...