No doubt everyone 22 years of age and over was once 21.

And in that golden and confusing year of being 21 we all stuffed up. We may not have contributed to a lockdown. But then maybe when we were 21 there wasn't a global pandemic.

For everyone that is baying for the blood of the 21-year-old who got a Covid test and then skipped off to the gym - calm down. Your hatred won't turn back the clock. Your bloodlust won't kill Covid 19.

We're in this together – all five million of us - those of us of 21 years and those of us of 91 years.

Except of course, the 91-year-old is much more vulnerable and therein lies the problem.

So while we do need to show some compassion for the 21-year-old who stopped Auckland in its tracks, we also need to take this seriously.

As Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says, this virus kills. It may not be you who it kills, it may not be your loved one, but it still kills.

And so Auckland has gone into Level 3 lockdown again beginning last Sunday at 6am. This affects thousands of people who call Auckland their home. Maybe that is why there were a reported 7500 extra vehicles heading south and east out of the city, between 9pm on Saturday and 6am Sunday.

These thousands who fled Auckland for greener non-Covid pastures have just put New Zealanders at a greater risk. The point was to make Aucklanders stay in one place - not for them to go high-tailing it out of the city at great speedy speed.

So what makes their actions any different than the 21-year-old who hightailed it down to the gym? Short answer – it doesn’t. As expert Dr Siouxsie Wiles says, they have risked spreading the disease around New Zealand.

Just writing this is starting to make me angry. It is hard to be angry and compassionate at the same time. It is difficult to be kind when you are part of a team of five million that are non-cohesive when it really matters.

It’s a bit like trying to hang a picture on the wall with blue tack. It’s just not going to stick. It's going to fall down, and the glass will smash into a million pieces.

Just like the lives of those who lose someone to Covid 19.

If our response as a nation to Covid 19 was a person we would be in the toddler stage by now. We’re throwing our toys out the cot, being self-obsessed, and parallel playing with our friends. We’re learning how to walk and talk, sometimes getting it right and other times tripping up and bumping our heads.

But while a toddler can be both charming and frustrating at the same time, the same cannot be said for a bunch of privileged and mobile adults who clog up motorways.

Your bach will still be there after the lockdown, but someone’s loved one may be in a grave. Woops.

While I am on the topic, what is it with those people who are still not using the Covid app to trace their movements? Do you feel that you are somehow exempt from making New Zealand a safer place? Do you want to play in your corner of the sandpit and dig a hole all by yourself?

Because you will be digging yourself a hole if you get Covid and the government needs to put in countless hours trying to trace your steps. And you will be digging an even deeper hole if someone else gets Covid in the meantime and dies.

And then someone else will have to dig a six-foot hole to bury their loved one and that is inexcusable and unforgivable.

Surely we are better than this Auckland? Our prime minister cannot be expected to police our every move and action. We have to step up and be responsible for our actions – each and every one of us.

So don’t get in your cars and race to your bach or to the gym and spread this nasty little virus. Stop trying to sidestep the rules and play by yourself in the sandpit. Now is the time to work together to save lives.

Put a mask over your mouth and nose and engage your brain and heart. Unless, of course, a microscopic virus is bigger than both organs.

Then, I am afraid, we are truly doomed.

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