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Holding fast to collectivist values in a health emergency.

Aotearoa New Zealand is currently grappling with an outbreak of the Delta variant of Covid-19. Since a recent returnee from Australia tested positive for Delta in mid-August 2021, we have been under public health emergency measures, with Tāmaki Makaurau, our largest city, in Level 3 and 4 lockdowns for 88 days (at 13 November). The Delta outbreak has resulted in 5371 cases so far. There are so many cases now that those of us in Tāmaki (and probably in Waikato and Tai Tokerau) have to assume that there are Covid-19 cases in our neighbourhoods. We scan the vaccination statistics every day to see if we are getting closer to that magic number of 90% of our eligible population double-vaccinated, at which point some restrictions can be lifted.