Oh, bother, and here we go as we, New Zealanders, are in Lockdown Four on August 18th 2021. Yes, it is accurate as one person has got a Covid19 strain – Delta Variant from NSW, (New South Wales), Australia and now it has fallen infects to 21 persons around Auckland so far. This afternoon, eleven people had their blood test results positive and left two severely ill people staying at the hospital in Auckland. This person flew on the managed red zone flight on August 7th and stayed at one of the hotels but transferred to another hotel because the first positive result came up on August 9th on the same day. There are possibly more people who have been infected by COVID19 Delta Variant.

The Aucklanders of Auckland are bracing for seven days, leaving the rest of New Zealand for three days now. We are on day two so far. Yes, our country is rolling out for everyone to have COVID19 vaccination shots since April 2021.

I am working as a deaf essential worker under two workplaces – one workplace is a Disability Organisation, and the second workplace is a social service. Since the first Lockdown in March 2020, I am a deaf essential worker and worked twenty-four hours and seven days until things went back to normal in October 2020. There were ongoing changes with the Lockdown between 2 and minus 1 from October to the current Lockdown Four this month. I have got two COVID19 vaccines back in late April and early May 2021.

In the Deaf community around New Zealand, Deaf people cope well and keep up to date with news and information from the Government and MOH (Ministry of Health) each day. We are privileged to have interpreters on media news channels every day, even during the breaking news during the day. Honestly, I do not watch the breaking news every day or use Facebook and other social media platforms all the time. This time I use a mini-break from social media in the evening, so I have time with my hearing partner and three dogs. It is a vital tool for well-being and health away from social media.

Here is a photo of myself wearing the masks, and yes, there are more masks in my car, work office in the city of Hamilton and home office here. You probably wondering why I do not have a “transparent clear” mask, for I am deaf. I use sign language to communicate with deaf people and deaf elderly people. When I met other people who are not deaf, they have the same mask as me. I wore my identity badge (just my name) under my workplace and a sharp detail from my mobile or a brief note in bold printed along with the letter – saying ‘I am deaf, please use gesture if you do not know the sign language, or write down on paper, type text on your mobile. If you are comfortable to pull down the mask to allow me to lip read. if none of all suit you, I will go to another place and thank you. have a good day.’ I used this note when working out around Waikato last year, and it worked out well. The staff and the security came to know who I am when I visited the supermarkets, GPs with the Deaf elderly person, Office and Banks.

Yes, there were two complaints from me to the ANZ Head office in Australia for one ANZ branch refused to let me in by leaving a Deaf elderly man at his home because the staff followed the guideline when coming down to the banking system. The deaf elderly man does not have online banking and uses other family members as a guardian for financial security. He prefers to use the old fashioned banking and paying out, which was a cash payment and once monthly withdrawal cash. Over two months, it was only temporary to visit the ANZ branch until any elderly persons could come out of their homes to their banks. The ANZ Head office did not realise these situations for disabled, elderly people without family members or no next of kin. He paid me cash as reimburses for his groceries and paying bills via my online systems. I printed out invoices and recorded the payments to the power company, rates, and stamp collectors. I informed his niece about this when I do the banking, so she knew it was safe to let her know. I received a friendly apology letter from the ANZ Head Office and a formal conversation from his local ANZ branch staff in Hamilton. The second one was a health staff of the PathLab who refused to pull down the mask, and I was advised to speak to the manager for I know the manager work there.

Looking on the bright side of the rainbow, we, D/deaf people, must be positive, stay calm, do not let the fear overcome with worrying about catching the Delta Variant strain, keep in touch with the family and other Deaf friends even to stay home.