That was a big call by the government this weekend - essentially shutting down our borders – but it’s a call I’m not going to criticise today. 

Whether it was right or wrong doesn’t actually matter now, because the decision’s been made and we are now in this position for the next 14 days. Maybe longer. Maybe even to the end of the year according to some experts.

We don’t know everything the government considered before it made this call – what the advice was, what they weighed up – but they have good advice, they have good advisers, and we have to trust that the government is listening and making good decisions. 

Now that this has happened, we’re in for a tough time economically. This is though going to be a difficult winter for a lot of Kiwis.

I want to acknowledge the businesses and the people in those businesses who are going to take a hit for the country. Some of them are going to lose their businesses and their jobs. They’re the collateral in the government’s bid to keep us safe.

To them, thank you, and I’m sorry.

The rest of us?  We have to do our bit.

Wash our hands, keep away if we’re sick, and, crucially, support these businesses that are going to struggle.

Spend with them. Travel with them. Stay with them. Keep this economy ticking over as best we can and keep calm. 

For goodness sake, the last thing anyone should be doing is the kind of crap we saw from the Wellington Mayor today.

What good is there in publicly demanding to know the names of the hotel and café visited by the coronavirus-infected man who came in from Australia? What’s the point?

If there was a risk to anyone else, the Ministry of Health would’ve named them.

Now, the café’s been named and it’s shut its doors. The café didn’t do anything wrong. Clearly the risk was low to anyone else, but the café is the one suffering.

Let’s look after each other. We’ve been dealt a bad hand, it’s entirely up to us how we play that hand – after washing it, of course.