Although the death of three New Zealanders this week from COVID-19 will create a "heightened sense of anxiety" in the community, it's important to keep focussed on what we have achieved as a nation so far and our responsibilities over the coming weeks, clinical psychologists say.
The Ministry of Health's Director of Public Health Dr Caroline McElnay confirmed on Saturday two further deaths in the country related to the COVID-19 respiratory illness which has affected more than 1300 New Zealanders. That follows confirmation of a fatality on Friday, taking New Zealand's death toll to four.
The tragic news has led to renewed calls for New Zealanders not to become complacent in the second half of our scheduled four-week alert level 4 lockdown. While the Prime Minister said earlier this week that she was cautiously optimistic we are turning a corner, with cases dropping daily despite increasing testing, she's also stressed we are not out of the woods yet.
Dr Dougal Sutherland, a clinical psychologist from Victoria University of Wellington, says the deaths have shown "how quickly things can change in 48 hours".
"Before Easter the police were warning people not to consider travelling to holiday homes and baches. There appeared to be a growing sense of optimism and even pride about how well we were doing containing COVID-19," he says.
"But the incredibly sad news of three deaths in two days may be a sobering reminder of the job we still have ahead of us."
Dr Sutherland says it is "natural" that people will respond to the deaths with a "heightened sense of anxiety".
But that can be "useful".
"Anxiety tells us that there could be danger present and that we should take steps to reduce our risk. And right now our anxiety is real and we should listen to it," he says.
"Our job isn't done yet. The lives of the vulnerable and the elderly depend on us continuing to stay home in our bubble. We should listen to our anxiety and then choose to respond, not with fear or suspicion, but with kindness and compassion. We have the opportunity to create a lasting legacy in our country, a legacy that says we stayed home because we cared."
Dr Ian de Terte, a clinical psychologist and senior lecturer at Massey University, says New Zealanders could consider the lockdown using the analogy of a game of cricket.
"To date, New Zealanders have done an exceptional job with the 'lockdown' process, but it is only halfway. It is like a change of innings in a cricket game. We have batted well but now we have to field and bowl well to win the game. We need more of the same, so I am urging people to stay at home," he says.
An extension to the lockdown could be thought of as a super over, "except this super over may go on until we beat this virus otherwise more New Zealanders may die".
Another clinical psychologist, Jacqui Maguire, says Kiwis must continue to forge forward with the lockdown rules "whilst validating how tough this might be feeling".
Maguire provided five tips for trying to boost motivation:
- Create an altruistic mindset: Staying home will protect those who are vulnerable. Picturing someone you love that is vulnerable can help.
- Focus on one day at a time rather than the end date.
- List and savour the benefits of lockdown. For example, pause from the hustle culture, time to read books, no traffic, money-saving because you can't shop
- Schedule things to look forward to each day
- Plan how your bubble will celebrate when we come out of level 4.
A decision on whether the alert level 4 lockdown will be extended will be made on April 20. Even if the lockdown is lifted and New Zealand goes to alert level 3, there will continue to be strict restrictions, with alternative working methods required and most non-essential businesses still closed.
Modelling released on Thursday found that New Zealand could contain the virus if the lockdown ended after its four-week run and fast contact tracing was underway. Our current daily numbers do track similarly to that "optimistic" view, however, in "realistic" or "pessimistic" scenarios, New Zealand could see another outbreak if the lockdown was lifted. Having the lockdown in place for 45 days would likely see the virus contained while a 90-day lockdown could see it eliminated.
A new mental health campaign developed by All Right? and the Mental Health Foundation was launched this week aiming to help Kiwis get through the COVID-19 pandemic. As well as providing messages to help people cope with stress during the lockdown, it offers tools to parents to help them talk to their children about their mental health and wellbeing.
Shaun Robinson, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand says the initiative is important because it lets Kiwis know it's okay to not always feel like they are coping.
"Sometimes just fighting those difficult emotions can actually just make them worse," Robinson told The AM Show on Tuesday.
Bottling them up or using the bottle to try and deal with them isn't going to be helpful...We don't have to accept that we're all going to get into a terrible emotional space because of this - there are things we can do to support our whānau to support ourselves to feel okay.
"It won't be awesome all the time but we will get through this mentally and emotionally - that's the biggest message."
