Sex workers in New Zealand may be the last group of people to be allowed to start work again amid the coronavirus outbreak, said Dame Catherine Healy, founding member of the Prostitutes’ Collective, adding that courtesans were hit the hardest by the COVID-19 lockdown. Healy said she fears sex workers will only be able to resume work after authorities loosen restrictions to level one due to the fact that their work requires close physical contact.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern recently announced that the country would move to level 3 lockdown on 27 April, which will be in place for two weeks. Under level three lockdown businesses will resume work, schools will reopen, and funeral and weddings of up to 10 people will also be allowed. After that authorities will assess whether restrictions should be loosened further.
Healy noted that sex workers were following self-isolation rules, despite some clients asking to flout them. Escorts were advised by the sex workers’ union to seek government help via the work and income or wage subsidy scheme, but some of them, Healy says, wanted to keep working and moved online to make ends meet. Healy says those workers that went digital revealed that it wasn’t the best way to earn money.
New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been criticised by opposition leaders of making the country’s businesses "sacrificial lambs" in the COVID-19 lockdown. The nation was among the first to introduce tough measures to curb the spread of the disease and it seems it's worked. There are 1,445 cases of coronavirus and 13 deaths, while 1,006 have recovered from the disease. Health experts say that New Zealand may be the first country to eradicate the infection.