The way we were: How Kiwis coped with Covid

This week marks two years since Covid-19 was declared a global emergency. Jonathan Killick, Katie Townshend and Sharnae Hope revisit those whose lives and businesses have changed inextricably.

December 31, 2019

A pneumonia-like illness is notified in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China.

January 30, 2020

The World Health Organisation declares a global health emergency and Kiwis begin to be evacuated from Wuhan.

When Hamilton man Aaron Mahon’s government-chartered plane touches down in Auckland with 193 people onboard from Wuhan, passengers applaud.

Mahon returned to New Zealand to ensure his six-year-old daughter, Taylor, wouldn’t be cut off from family if the borders closed. With no managed isolation facilities yet, Mahon and his family spent 14 days in a camper-van on a Whangapara¯ oa naval base. ‘‘That was a bit tough on our sanity after a longhaul flight.’’

Medical staff checked his blood pressure daily, and did blood tests every four days. Much of the nervousness around Covid-19 was the fear of the unknown. ‘‘We didn’t know how it spread or what it did to you, just that it caused deaths.’’

Fortunately, his former employer Ingham Hyundai saw him on TV – and called him up to offer him a job. ‘‘I had a job and a car waiting for me... You couldn’t have asked for much more than that.’’

February 3, 2020

NZ temporarily bans entry of foreigners from, or people who’d travelled through, mainland China. Travel screeches to a halt.

May Moncur captures a selfie on a near empty plane.

‘‘I felt like I had finally made it in life – I had my own private jet. At the time it felt surreal, like a dream, but two years on I still haven’t woken up.’’

When Moncur arrived back at the airport in New Zealand from Hong Kong she was shocked to see mask-less people. ‘‘In China, I had been wearing glass goggles to the supermarket. In China, even a 5-year-old knows that wearing a mask won’t totally stop spread, but it will help.’’

She voluntarily isolated for two weeks, afterward noticing Chinese restaurants on Dominion Rd were empty.

She is pleased the Government has allowed people with work visas who were in the country in 2021 to apply for residency – it has allowed the Chinese community to put down roots and invest.

Late in 2020 Moncur’s father died, and she was unable to return to China for the funeral. She hopes to go this year.

‘‘It would be great to see my mother again, who is now 86.’’

February 28, 2020

The first New Zealand case of Covid-19 is announced: a person in their 60s who flew in from Iran.

March 14, 2020

People entering the country must self-isolate for 14 days. On March 19, borders close to non-NZ citizens or permanent residents. Then deputy PM Winston Peters tells Kiwis, ‘‘Come home now.’’

March 17, 2020

The wage subsidy is introduced.

March 21, 2020

The PM announces the alert level system to guide movements and precautions – NZ is in level 2, one of the least restrictive levels – as cases climb.

March 25, 2020

As the country clocks 102 positive cases (though experts believed there to be hundreds more circulating in the community) New Zealand enters lockdown level 4, the first of several lockdowns. This one spanned Easter holidays and Anzac Day.

March to April, 2020

New phrases enter the vernacular – working from home and Zooming among them. Hamilton primary school principal Shane Ngatai was among educators adjusting to a new normal, with children learning from home. The day before lockdown he was sending books, resources and fruit home to parents in his community.

‘‘Our kids are stronger than we give them credit for,’’ Ngatai said this week. ‘‘When I asked them about the highlight of their year, they didn’t remember Covid or anything. They just want security knowing life will go on.’’

Rhode St School, like many schools across the country, has had to adapt to online learning in a time of financial strain with people losing jobs and loved ones getting sick.

Ngatai said while those moments have been really hard, it’s what has made the community stronger.

The school, which has 210 pupils, has continued to provide family with fruit, Chromebooks and learning packs. They’ve also made sure online and distance learning has been filled with some fun – the pupils even learned to make real fruit ice cream, Ngatai said, something that had really struck a chord.

April 12, 2020

Intensive care nurse, Jenny McGee from Invercargill, becomes a household name after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson publicly praises her for caring for him when he became sick with Covid. She finds the recognition ‘baffling’.

Nearly two years later, after leaving the NHS following Covid’s second wave, she’s been splitting her work time between the Caribbean and London. After struggling like many to secure an MIQ spot, she’s looking forward to her first trip back to New Zealand since the pandemic began, in February.

‘‘I know I’m going to cry like a baby,’’ she says. ‘‘It gets me teary just thinking about being hugged by them for the first time.’’

She was ‘‘immensely proud’’ of working through the height of the pandemic, but it was tough and left her burnt out. She was dealing with up to four times the normal workload and the pressure and nerves were constant.

‘‘The work was just this relentless day in, day out.’’

The Nurse Jenny recognition was still baffling. She’d declined a book deal, was regularly asked for interviews, and was recognised even while wearing a mask. ‘‘I still really can’t believe it happened.’’

March 29, 2020

New Zealand’s first death of a person with Covid-19 is recorded, a West Coast woman in her 70s.

April 10, 2020

Hotels are requisitioned and MIQ is introduced for new arrivals who must isolate for two weeks.

April 27, 2020

After more than four weeks of lockdown, New Zealand moves to alert level 3, dubbed ‘‘level 4 but with takeaways’’. There are close to 400 cases in the country, with several people in intensive care. Movements are still severely restricted.

May 11, 2020

Freedoms are restored as the country moves to level 2 and NZ appeared to be successfully keeping Covid-19 at bay. Entrepreneurs say our future is in the hands of tech.

Entrepreneur Dil Khosa said then that New Zealand could ‘‘rise from the ashes like a phoenix’’ by attracting top tech talent from overseas, and growing the sector locally. Looking back, she believes that opportunity has been squandered by closed borders and inaccessible MIQ facilities.

But, that hasn’t stopped Khosa from trying to foster talent locally. This month she has launched a space on Auckland’s High St for tech entrepreneurs to meet and share resources. In two years her online community of women tech entrepreneurs has grown exponentially.

‘‘It started with three women doing monthly Zoom calls and now has 193 members from all over the country, launching businesses and starting side projects.’’

She still believes that New Zealand can grow its tech sector, especially now that lockdown has opened people’s minds to working solely online. ‘‘I’ve been contracting to firms in Singapore. The tech industry cares more about attracting the best talent than where it comes from.’’

July, 2020

Thousands of Kiwis return home in what’s dubbed a ‘‘brain gain’’. Among them was entrepreneur Lucy von Sturmer who dreamed of carrying on her global company from Raglan. She arrived in NZ with her husband ready to surprise family with her pregnancy.

Von Sturmer made a split decision to return to New Zealand after living 10 years in the Netherlands. She had built a business, bought real estate and even married an Italian she had met in Dutch language class.

The couple were holidaying in Venice when they realised von Sturmer was pregnant. ‘‘It wasn’t on our radar at all, but to get into MIQ we would have to stay in New Zealand for at least three months, so we decided just to move.’’

Von Sturmer has continued her two businesses in New Zealand – Creatives for Climate Change and communications agency Humblebrag.

Two years on she has shifted all the businesses’ networking events and training courses online. Her client base continues to be primarily based in Europe, and it’s growing.

‘‘The late night and early morning phone calls can be a killer but at least I have the days free. I’m starting to surf again and my husband has picked up windsurfing.’’

June 8, 2020

The Ministry of Health announces there are no cases of Covid-19 in the community and the country moves to alert level 1. That doesn’t last long – by August 11 four new community cases have been detected and Auckland is thrown back into level 3 until September 23.

October, 2020

The Delta variant is identified in India and quickly becomes the most transmissible variant in the world.

November, 2020

Kiwis are encouraged to spend as the NZ Retail Association warns of mass closures. Manurewa jeweller Nilesh Kumar was jovial at the end of 2020, having survived two lockdowns with his 17-year-old business intact. He wasn’t expecting to have to do it all over again.

The 2021 lockdown couldn’t have come at a worse time for jewellers. The new season of global stock is released in July and usually arrives in stores in New Zealand in October. Kumar found himself with a big bill right as he was forced to close for three months.

‘‘Somehow we managed to survive, but I had to put all my savings into it.’’

It helped that his landlords at Southmall shopping centre were his parents and he was able to negotiate his rent. Shoppers are still cautious about their spending with many households having taken a financial hit. This year the bumper Christmas season has kept the mall going, especially thanks to the support of local shoppers.

‘‘People were coming into the shop just to ask how we were, saying they were glad to see we were still in business.’’

January, 2021

Hospitality businesses post a $1.2b deficit. Publican Adam Neal opened an experimental pop up bar on Auckland’s viaduct, Brolly, and the gamble paid off.

The bar helped keep things afloat during level two and the red light phase, when bars and restaurants had to limit numbers. However, Brolly, and Neal’s other bar, Parasol and Swing, were not able to open in level three. Neal paid all his staff through the lockdown and has hired more, despite a ‘‘horrifying’’ shortage of hospitality workers, to ensure that his bars are well positioned to take advantage of the bounce back.

He has opened a third bar in Ponsonby, the Broken Lantern, having ‘‘naively’’ signed the lease in July. ‘‘We have given ourselves a disgusting amount of crippling debt, but a lot of people are in worse situations and we are just focussing on making the most of what we have.’’

Neal is optimistic that even if Auckland returns to red light, his businesses will be able to thrive on table service with reduced capacity. ‘‘We are just looking forward to hopefully never going into complete lockdown ever again.’’

February 14, 2021

After enjoying a summer of relative normality Auckland is plunged into a quick lockdown again after three cases are found in the community. Auckland moves into level 3 for several days. For many months the country enjoys a Covidfree period.

Wellington is on a knife edge for several days when a visitor from Australia unwittingly roams the city with the especially contagious variant Delta. The capital escapes with no new cases, and just a few days in level 2.

February 19, 2021

The country starts its staggered vaccination programme with the Pfizer jab. Essential workers and the immunocompromised are given early priority, followed by age groups.

May, 2021

Life returns to some normality, and travellers take flight again. Trans-Tasman

flights temporarily resume and hardy folk fly even further. Alastair Lynn moved to the UK with his partner and, he writes, has no regrets.

‘‘Moving countries during a pandemic felt like stepping off a cliff. The decision attracted a good share of criticism – and ardent support. The past eight months haven’t always been smooth sailing, but I’m happy it was the right choice. We’ve found jobs, a place to live and made friends. There’s no denying the astronomical number of new daily Covid cases.

‘‘However, with a successful vaccination and booster program there’s a real sense of just getting on with things. International travel has required a bit more admin and extra costs, but it’s not impossible. We’ve travelled throughout England and to seven other countries. It’s been everything I hoped an OE would be, just with face masks.

‘‘Our biggest scare came in December when I caught Omicron, but being fully vaccinated, it felt like a mild cold. The hardest part was self-isolating in my room for 10 days. Thankfully, I managed to get out on the 24th and we spent Christmas in Prague. If anything, this year has taught us the importance of taking chances. This time the risk paid off.’’

August 17, 2021

An unvaccinated Auckland man who’d just spent a weekend travelling through the Coromandel Peninsula tests positive for Covid-19. The coastal town is put on high alert and the country once again goes into lockdown level 4. Auckland would go on to spend 107 days in level 4.

While the rest of the country descended into levels 3 and then 2, areas in Waikato and Northland, would also spend periods in level 4 as cases were detected there.

October 16, 2021

‘‘Super Saturday’’ vaxathon day draws 130,000 people to get vaccinated, including 39,000 first doses, and is a whole-day entertaining affair with TV hosting news specials with famous guest appearances, including Taika Waititi.

November 27, 2021

The WHO announces the Omicron variant has been detected in South Africa. It is soon identified as a less severe strain but highly transmissible. Around the globe more than 5 million have been killed by Covid19.

December 3, 2021

The alert level system is abandoned in favour of the traffic light system and the elimination strategy appears to be abandoned.

December 15, 2021

The Auckland border reopens to people who are vaccinated or have a negative Covid test, despite cases continuing to be detected. For the first time since August movements are not restricted and families are reunited for Christmas and summer holidays. A day later, the country reaches a vaccination milestone: 90 per cent of those eligible.