Covid-19 has damaged our community in a range of ways, including loss of income from tourists, the impact on vaccine mandates on locals, and uncertainty about the future.

One group of people significantly affected by the pandemic is a demographic we seldom hear from: those vulnerable to Covid-19 because of having a chronic illness or being immunosuppressed.

“You have those people in your community whether you acknowledge them or not,” Southern District Health Board medical officer of health Susan Jack told the Wānaka App.

So the Wānaka App sat down with two locals: Sam, who has a chronic illness and Anna, who is an advocate for people with chronic conditions.

Their names have been changed to protect their privacy.

What’s it like being medically vulnerable in this community?

Living in the Upper Clutha, close to four hours away from a base hospital, has plenty of challenges for people dealing with health issues, such as “money, travel, time, anxiety,” Anna said. 

But another challenge can be being somewhat invisible in this healthy and active community.

Anna heard a local describe Covid as being about “survival of the fittest”. 

“That really got me. That’s coming from a really privileged place of health, and ignorance, in my opinion.”

“That’s the ethos of all around here,” Sam said.

The two locals said they appreciated a recent meme (‘Am I the only one who thinks that “well did they have comorbidities” is beginning to sound a lot like “but what was she wearing?”’) which refers to the suggestion that people who die from Covid deserved it.

“You can live quite a long time with underlying factors,” Sam said. 

They agreed there are more vulnerable people in this community than people may realise, including people managing chronic illnesses, children on various medications, and the elderly.

Anna said locals “talk so much about community... but people don’t know who’s in their community.”

Government messaging about vaccination can include phrases like “you might want to visit your parent in hospital”, Sam said, “but what about your brother down the road, or your teenage niece?”

“Wherever you read anything about that, it’s always the last little titbit at the end - the tokenistic ‘oh by the way you might want to look after the ill and vulnerable, maybe’,” Anna said.

What’s it like watching the pandemic develop?

Anna said she and her family have been okay until recently, but December 15 (when Aucklanders are free to move around the country) is looming.

“I’m under no illusions; Covid is arriving on a plane on the 15th of December. I think we’re crazy to not be realists about that,” she said. 

Anna asked a medical specialist about the novel coronavirus in December 2019.

“He said ‘put it this way, if it arrives in New Zealand people will be dying in their homes’. And that’s already happened in Auckland,” she said.

“My main concern is a hospital bed for the people who really really need it, because they’re just not there. I think we’ve got one Covid bed in Queenstown.”

How will your life change when Covid is in this community?

Sam said he has reduced his usually frequent trips into Wānaka to just once a week. He hasn’t travelled out of Wānaka since Covid reached New Zealand, apart from trips to Dunedin for hospital appointments.

“I’m making home my happy place and I’m not going far,” he said.

Sam said he hasn’t gone to his GP for a Covid plan because he’s found it hard to get appointments since the pandemic. But he definitely does not want to be at home alone with Covid.

Anna said her anxiety is so big she can’t even picture it. 

“I know how pushed the hospitals are at the minute, without having Covid down here, so when it does arrive I am genuinely worried for the doctors and nurses for their wellbeing and how they are going to cope,” she said, adding that doctors and nurses overseas had to hold up their phones to people who were dying so their families could say their last goodbyes.

What do you think of the vaccine mandates?

Sam has had three vaccinations, Anna is double vaccinated and both will get booster shots as soon as they are eligible.

Anna is frustrated with opposition to the vaccine mandates, asking who has a better alternative?

“Everybody hands up: What’s your best idea? How else are we going to manage it? What’s a better way?” 

But she also thinks rapid antigen testing should be available now.

“It should be free now to everybody, not just the vaxxed.”

Sam is “kind of anti the mandates” because he believes they create “an us and them culture”.

“Some people with the passport are going to feel entitled to tell people without the passport that they are wrong for thinking the way they do without actually knowing their reasons for not having a passport.”

He’s also concerned that some people with the passport will think that’s all they need to be safe. 

“There are going to be situations where passport and non passport holders meet, such as in supermarkets. I can imagine situations where that gets hostile and I’m not sure how the staff in these stores will cope with policing those situations. Vaccinated or not, we are going to come into contact with each other.”

Both Sam and Anna emphasised that the vaccine passport “does not make you bulletproof”, as vaccinated people can still catch and transmit the virus (although at lower levels than the unvaccinated).

“We all still need to be careful, vaccinated or not. [The government] is selling it like it’s some golden ticket, but it’s not,” Sam said.

Local businesses who say they will not discriminate against unvaccinated people under the new traffic light system are failing to acknowledge the mandates are intended to reduce the spread of the virus and protect vulnerable people. 

“It comes across as really insensitive. And I do feel like some people and businesses are using it as a bit of a badge of honour,” Anna said.

“There’s this double standard that people have and it’s really worrying me. Someone I know locally bought their teenager drugs for their birthday and did them with them and thought it was so amazing, but they are savagely against the vaccine,” she said.

“We have been so fortunate in New Zealand up to now. This government inherited a legacy of many long term problems and I believe they have done the best they can in most cases. ICU beds have been increased in well populated areas. Let’s hope it's enough.”

PHOTO: Wānaka App