Public policy debate for now is all about how we deal with covid-19. So far the disease costs have been lighter than we might have expected in terms of people affected and lives lost. While every death is a tragedy for the family involved, it has been the elderly, especially those already dealing with serious underlying conditions, that have been seriously affected. Recovery rates (currently 85%) are high by international comparisons.

At the personal level, our family has noticed some interesting effects from the lockdown. Being at home all the time has had personal positives and halved our costs. The car has hardly been used. We have got a lot of long put-off projects done around our place. We find ourselves doing different things but living full days.

As to the big picture, we talk about the national impacts we hear about over the radio and TV and have different thoughts. When it comes to what to do, Cabinet will inevitably be faced with choices as to when and how to move. Cabinet papers typically come forward with a range of options that those sitting at the Cabinet table have to choose between, with the options put forward reflecting the perspective of the agencies making the suggestions. Any decision is a question of balance. Having genuinely held, but different, views of where the balance should lie is expected. The Leader of the Opposition ran into a wall of criticism for suggesting an earlier drop to Level 3 was justified. Not everyone will agree of course, but that is a legitimate point of view.

There are plenty of examples of the costs starting to show. Unemployment is racing up again as jobs are lost. Plenty of small businesses – cafés, restaurants, bars, etc. - are reporting it’s getting harder and harder. Many hotel rooms are empty. There has been a huge lift in the numbers of families requiring food parcel support. Hospital operations for number of procedures, some quite urgent, have been delayed. Air New Zealand is knocked for a six. Everyone depending on professional sport for a living – and they were doing really well – are much reduced. Dependent as it is on international visitors, Queenstown is doing an absolute freeze. There are a number of overseas travelers that went there expecting to prior covid-19 work and earn in hospitality that have found themselves stuck.

No policy decision is costless. Advocates of a longer extension expound the benefits of the approach they advocate; they often are less forthcoming on the costs. The costs of our lockdown could well be slower coming through than the corona virus itself, they are costs that we as the citizens will sooner or later have to bear.

The most recent major decision was the timing of the move down from Alert Level Four to Three. While I don’t doubt that those who made this decision were well motivated, this timing should be debated.

Advocates will emphasise the benefits of constraining the health risks; others will give more weight to the other costs. Without all the information it can be hard to be definitive, but if I had been there I would not have added the extra week. The coronavirus impacts seem manageable. Personally I see more urgency in turning our efforts to addressing a wider band of the costs.