When
lightning struck the tree Homer Simpson sheltered under, hefting a sheet of
corrugated steel for extra protection, he was inspired. The glowing bough
crashing down struck him as a very magical piece of wood, and he should make a
bat out of it. Bristling with bent nails after hours of hammering, Homer’s bat
testifies to our human gift of improvisation using whatever tools we have like
a trusty hammer. Surely, repeatedly whacking a problem with a familiar tool
will solve it even if slightly dented and bent in the end.
Our
Covid-19 toolbox has grown since March 2020 when the first extraordinary silence of a Level 4 lockdown blanketed
New Zealand. Knowledge of the virus and its hazards for the vulnerable expanded
considerably in tandem with a stunningly swift rise of vaccines and promising treatments. Yet, after some 18
months with scientists and clinicians furiously testing and trying other tools,
New Zealand resorts to the same hammer swung in those
first dim days.
