As the country moves into the next phase of its plan to deal with the spread of Omicron, flatters are coming up with their personal pandemic plans.
While for some people, that means taking extra precautions, others are thinking about having a ‘chickenpox party’ - but for Covid-19.
On Tuesday evening, New Zealand moved into phase two of the Government’s three-step Omicron plan.
This means the isolation period for a person infected with Covid-19 goes from 14 days down to 10 days. For close contacts and household contacts, this goes down from 10 days to 7 days.
Re: spoke to flatters who shared their Personal Pandemic Plan, or as we like to call it, a ‘PPP’.
One flatter, who wishes to stay anonymous, says their flat is thinking of intentionally contracting Covid-19 if one of them gets it.
They say the plan is to have a Covid ‘chickenpox party’ amongst their flat, like “people used to have back in the day”.
These types of parties are a way for people to be deliberately exposed to an illness such as chickenpox and the flu.
“We want to be on a similar isolation timeline so if one person catches it, we all catch it,” they say.
“We would hang out in the same room together so we’re all breathing the same air and potentially sharing vapes and drinks.”
They also say they have chatted to friends who may be planning on doing the same thing at their flats.
“I think it’ll also be mentally beneficial knowing we’re all in it together and experiencing similar things at the same time, rather than one person feeling sick and having to isolate within the flat.
“We’re all pretty healthy and double or triple-vaxxed, and no one at the flat is immunocompromised.”
Auckland flatter, Jamie Smith, says their flat is going to try to isolate as much as possible.
“It’s lowkey a shitshow because one flatmate works in a hospital and we don’t want her to take Covid-19 to her patients,” Jamie says.
“We’re definitely more worried about spreading it to others because although we aren’t, we all know at least one immunocompromised person.”
“I feel like people are losing sight of the bigger picture with all these protests happening,” Jamie says.
“We’ve had such a low number of deaths due to how well it’s been handled by the Government.”
Monique Logan, also based in Auckland, says her flat has all got to the point where they “want to keep on keeping on”.
“We’re all students, all triple-vaxxed and [we] are missing out on the pivotal years which, of course, has got us super down.”
Monique, who is immunocompromised, says while they don’t want themselves or anyone to get it, it is inevitable.
“I think we’ve come to accept it’s pretty damn likely that we’ll get it at some point at least,” Monique says.
“We’re more concerned over what to do when it happens - what should the plan be for the inevitable?”
Briar Whipp says her flat is going to carry on with life as usual.
“We’re all fed up with Covid and all that comes with it,” the Auckland-based flatter says.
“We’re all relatively young and just want to live life like normal.”
However, one of her flatmates is awaiting surgery and Briar is on call as her sister is set to give birth soon.
“It is a little tricky so we’re taking precautions but not to a massive extent.”
Briar says their flat all wear face masks, try to scan in and work from home where possible.
“The only thing we have planned is that if one of us gets Covid-19, we are all going to act as if we have it.
A Ministry of Health spokesperson says it does not recommend people trying to find ways to become infected with Covid-19.
“Becoming infected with Covid-19 will also increase the probability that those close to you, including your whānau and loved ones, will contract the infection,” the spokesperson says.
It could also lead to severe illness, hospitalisation and possibly death.
“In addition, it is not inevitable that all household contacts of cases will themselves become cases.”
Top Image: Students moving into accommodation (Source: iStock)
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