The Daily Populous

Thursday April 8th, 2021 night edition

image for Silver linings in lockdown

Two thirds of New Zealanders believed there were ‘silver linings’ to the country’s Alert Level 4 COVID-19 lockdown imposed in March last year, a University of Otago survey has found.

One year on from lockdown, the results of their study have been published in the international scientific journal, PLOS ONE.

“Lockdown represented a major flashpoint in people’s lives and created an opportunity to stop, take stock and to reflect and connect with others.

They described an ‘old fashioned sense of community and caring … that was not apparent before lockdown’.”.

Increased flexibility in working from home and reduced time spent commuting was frequently mentioned as one of the silver linings of lockdown, enabling people to spend more time with their families.

“Our findings show that in a time of turmoil, unrest and psychological distress, many people nonetheless found silver linings.

The full article, ‘Silver linings of the COVID-19 lockdown in Aotearoa New Zealand’ is published in the international scientific journal, PLOS ONE. »

China warns against boycott of 2022 Olympics over human rights record

Authored by espn.com
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He warned of an unspecified "robust Chinese response" to a potential Olympics boycott.

Human rights groups are protesting China's hosting of the games, due to start in February 2022.

The U.S. State Department suggested an Olympic boycott was among the possibilities, but a senior official said later a boycott has not been discussed. »

The U.S. would like to loosen border restrictions. ‘We’re not there yet,’ Justin Trudeau says

Authored by thestar.com
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The Canada-U.S. border has been closed to all but essential traffic since March 2020, with travel restrictions extended monthly, most recently to April 21.

“With vaccines, we do have the upper hand,” he said, even if variants of the coronavirus require yearly inoculations, as some experts suggest.

“We’ve done a good job in this country of instilling fear in people whereas they say, ‘Look, it’s time to start moving.’”. »