Holiday attitude to QR scans must stop

Have we become too complacent about Covid-19 and the devastation it is wreaking on the world? In my view, yes, we absolutely have. Yet, in a way, I can see how.

For many, it has been cruisy Kiwi summer filled with beaches, camping and leftover Christmas ham.

Unfortunately, it would appear some people were so keen to forget about 2020 that when they switched over to holiday-mode they appear to have switched off their sense of responsibility for helping prevent the potential spread of Covid.

Data revealed last week showed the number of daily scans on the tracer app has plummeted from its peak of 2.5 million in September to around 500,000 in recent weeks. I’m not surprised.

Time and time again I visit a venue and see the Covid QR codes or sign-in sheets ignored.

I’ve forgotten to scan in myself on occasion, but I remember more often than not.

I agree with Act leader David Seymour who last week called on the Government to make scanning in with a QR code compulsory for those people who haven’t switched on the Covid Tracer app’s Bluetooth capability.

Given his party’s libertarian values, Seymour is pretty much the last guy I’d expect to make plea for such extensive Government monitoring of people’s whereabouts so that in itself should serve as a reason for a shake-up.

Here’s another reason: Just yesterday, I saw a photo of the incredible Live Aid crowd in the UK from 1987. There were about 72,000 people packed into Wembley Stadium.

Last week, the UK recorded 87,295 deaths from Covid-19.

What a sobering and grim statistic.

Many people this week will be returning from holiday to start work again like normal. But life isn’t back to normal yet, even if it looks that way.

New Zealand is still standing on a precipice of one of the worst health pandemics in history with just a few quarantine hotels holding back a potential tide of community transmissions.

We need to be vigilant in protecting ourselves and our loved ones.

In journalism, there’s a saying we abide by: “Ignorance is no defence”.

I feel the same way about how many Kiwis seem to be treating the Covid-19 pandemic.

We all know how infectious it can be. We all know it’s harrowing death toll.

Scan the codes. Record your visits.

We can’t afford to forget just because the sun is shining.