My thoughts, events and happenings!

I know about COVID-19, I know it’s a respiratory virus, I know there were strains of it around in the past, like H1N1 which Mum and Dad and I caught when I was little. I understand that it’s called the “Coronavirus” because it is round and has protrusions which resemble coronal mass ejections our sun spits out.

The sun ejecting from it’s corona.

COVID-19

These protrusions are designed to adhere to the cells in your lungs, where they cause damage to the cells which keep your lungs moist and the ciliated cells which help you to cough up rubbish from your lungs.

So you get a horrible dry cough along with other symptoms.

I know that this virus is really, really contagious and can spread in droplets caused by coughing, sneezing or by direct or indirect transfer.

Mum is worried for the old people in our community, she is very worried about Nan who is really old and has been sick in the past.

We have talked about what we need to do and what might happen in the future as the virus spreads more and more in New Zealand. I am going to wash my hands often, especially if we go to places where there are lots of people. We will have as little to do with outside people as possible, we have put a sign on the gate that we are no longer hiring sand boards because of the virus. We will rely less and less on things from outside our own property, we will grow our own food or forage from the wild.

We are quite good at foraging and do it a lot already, we catch fish, collect shellfish, eat seaweeds, collect wild greens like puha or samphire, we have spent some time this weekend catching fish at the creek for smoking, we smoked them and ate some for breakfast, we put some away in the freezer and shared some with the old people who live near to us.

Me getting mullet out of the net.

A fish ready to go in the smoker.

I am worried about the people I know who live in the cities and can’t get away from other people, like my teacher Judy, I hope you are Okay Judy!