Catching Covid: the patient's perspective

Under Phase Two of the Government's Omicron response instead of receiving a call from public health officials, people who test positive will now be notified via text message. The text will direct them to an online self-investigation tool that shows them what to do. With the total number of community cases currently exceeding 8-thousand, First Up wanted to find out what it is actually like when you test positive for Covid at the moment. Here's what double jabbed and boosted 21-year-old Abi, had to say to our reporter Ella Stewart. --- And while catching Omicron may be little more than an inconvenience for some fully vaccinated and boosted New Zealanders, trying to organise self isolating can be a major ordeal for larger families. East Auckland resident Vino Faalili isolated in his garage with his wife and children after they tested positive for the virus, in an attempt to prevent older relatives in the main house from catching it. But such is the virulence of Omicron that all nine members of the household eventually tested positive. Vino, who some listeners may know by his stage name, DJ Vino, spoke to our producer Matthew Theunissen about his family's ordeal. ---- With Pasifika people making up about half of the cases in the current Omicron outbreak, community leader Tuala Tagaloa Tusani is also worried that language difficulties and a lack of access to technology mean that people could go unnoticed if they become very ill Tuala knows better than most how debilitating Covid-19 can be. Back in September last year he and his wife became so sick with the virus they thought they were going to die. Nathan Rarere spoke to Tuala while he was taking a break from delivering food parcels to isolating families, and began by asking if he's back to 100 per cent health since his bout with Covid-19.