Auckland schools that decided to keep mask mandates during term 2 saw higher student attendance than those that dropped them. Heading into term 2, the Government made the controversial call to remove nationwide school mask mandates instead leaving it up to individual schools to make their own rules. The decision sparked disagreement from the disability Read more
Posts Tagged ‘COVID-19’
Schools with mask mandates saw fewer student absences than average in term 2
Monday, July 11th, 2022Catholic college reverts to online learning
Monday, July 4th, 2022
At least one school is reverting to online learning because it is unable to staff classes. Auckland’s Carmel College says on its website that the school will be using online learning from Tuesday 5 – Friday 8 July. Schools in New Zealand are on holiday from 9 July. Amid battling Covid, influenza, RSV, tummy bugs Read more
The post-Covid Communion cup
Monday, June 27th, 2022
Slowly, imperceptibly, we are leaving the Covid days behind us and a new reality is being born. Weeks and months drifted by without the Eucharist and now we are waking up to a new dawn. Much has changed. The familiar pattern of Eucharistic ministers waiting to offer each of us the cup at time of Read more
Covid isn’t over, it’s just getting started
Monday, June 20th, 2022
A century ago, one in five people who died in New Zealand were killed by an infectious disease. Infectious diseases, as a group, took more lives in 1922 than heart disease. Twice as many people were killed by communicable viruses or bacteria as died of all forms of cancer combined. These days, heart disease and Read more
You are going to get Covid again… and again… and again
Thursday, June 9th, 2022
Two and a half years and billions of estimated infections into this pandemic, SARS-CoV-2’s visit has clearly turned into a permanent stay. Experts knew from early on that, for almost everyone, infection with this coronavirus would be inevitable. As James Hamblin memorably put it back in February 2020, “You’re Likely to Get the Coronavirus.” But Read more
Food a discretionary item for some
Thursday, June 2nd, 2022
Food has become a discretionary item in many people’s budgets. Its low priority is just one of the changes Delphina Soti, General Manager of the St Vincent de Paul food Hub in Auckland is seeing. Covid has a long tail and there are many layers of need in the community, she says. “There’s a lot Read more
April was our deadliest month for Covid
Monday, May 9th, 2022
April was New Zealand’s deadliest month for Covid-related deaths since the pandemic began, according to recently-released statistics. New Zealand’s COVID-19 death toll has increased more than tenfold over the past two months. The government’s decision to keep schools and non-essential businesses open and to remove most public health restrictions is being blamed for the spike. Read more
I’m afraid to return to Mass. It’s not because of Covid.
Monday, May 2nd, 2022
For two years now, I have gone to Mass twice every Sunday, although I do so seated at my kitchen table. I can see the local Catholic church from my window, but I haven’t been inside it since the brief window, mid-pandemic, of supposed normality in July 2021. From my small town in Oregon, I Read more
Girls education a challenge in post-Covid Asia
Thursday, April 28th, 2022
If girls education makes societies stronger, more peaceful and prosperous, then the chances of Asia achieving those goals have become more distant with the coronavirus pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, girls’ enrollments in school had seen significant improvements in Asia. But with the pandemic, those gains have been wiped out. UNESCO estimates that about 24 Read more
How Covid changed the clergy
Thursday, April 21st, 2022
There’s no doubt Covid changed the clergy. In New York, anyway. During the deadliest months of the coronavirus pandemic, when many New Yorkers most needed their faith communities, houses of worship were either closed or operating with limits on attendance. The solace of grieving with family and friends, the comfort of the communal rituals of Read more