New Zealanders aren’t allowed to drive except in emergencies and can only be out of the house for an hour a day, to get exercise or to buy essentials.

This one-hour limit is enforced by the police https://trib.al/0joDceO ">https://trib.al/0joDceO&q...

At the pharmacy, only one person is allowed in at a time, and clerks retrieve the goods so customers never touch anything until they return home.

The wait to get in a grocery store is around an hour. If you don’t have a mask and gloves, you won& #39;t get in https://trib.al/0joDceO ">https://trib.al/0joDceO&q...

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇳🇿" title="Flag of New Zealand" aria-label="Emoji: Flag of New Zealand">In New Zealand...

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🚫" title="No entry sign" aria-label="Emoji: No entry sign">Every restaurant is closed.
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🚫" title="No entry sign" aria-label="Emoji: No entry sign">There’s no take-out.
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🚫" title="No entry sign" aria-label="Emoji: No entry sign">There are no deliveries.
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🚫" title="No entry sign" aria-label="Emoji: No entry sign">E-commerce has been halted.

Food-processing companies still operate, but virtually every other form of blue-collar work is shut down https://trib.al/0joDceO ">https://trib.al/0joDceO&q...

Citizens are surviving financially with emergency checks from the government.

Essential workers in New Zealand are truly essential. Although there are Covid-19 clusters — a church; a rest home; a wedding party — workplaces have largely been virus-free https://trib.al/0joDceO ">https://trib.al/0joDceO&q...

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇺🇸" title="Flag of United States" aria-label="Emoji: Flag of United States">Compare that with the U.S.:

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✅" title="White heavy check mark" aria-label="Emoji: White heavy check mark">Pork plants remain open.
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✅" title="White heavy check mark" aria-label="Emoji: White heavy check mark">Navy shipbuilders are still running.
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✅" title="White heavy check mark" aria-label="Emoji: White heavy check mark">Boeing is making employees come in.

Many "essential businesses" continue to run as if nothing were amiss https://trib.al/0joDceO ">https://trib.al/0joDceO&q...

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="📦" title="Package" aria-label="Emoji: Package">For FedEx and UPS, it& #39;s business as normal...

Except that Covid-19 cases keep popping up. In Houston alone at least 25 package workers have come down with the virus, as well as 19 people who work for Amazon https://trib.al/0joDceO ">https://trib.al/0joDceO&q...

At Amazon headquarters in Seattle, the white-collar employees are working from home.

But hundreds of thousands of blue-collar employees working in the company’s enormous warehouses are still going to work every day https://trib.al/0joDceO ">https://trib.al/0joDceO&q...

Is Amazon shipping essential goods? Of course.

You can get toilet paper and paper towels from Amazon. But it’s also still selling everything else, much of which is not essential at all
https://trib.al/0joDceO ">https://trib.al/0joDceO&q...

The U.S. has categorized a ridiculous number of businesses that are “essential.” But at what cost?

Thousands of other workers are putting themselves on the line for no good reason other than their bosses are demanding it https://trib.al/0joDceO ">https://trib.al/0joDceO&q...

Following New Zealand’s lead would mean white-collar workers in the U.S. would have to make some small sacrifices.

But if we return to what essential truly means, we may also save lives https://trib.al/0joDceO ">https://trib.al/0joDceO&q...