Covid-19 launched the country into a time of uncertainty, bringing with it new terms and and a shift in New Zealand's sense of community.
Photo: RNZ
Five-years-ago on Friday, New Zealand recorded its first Covid-19 case.
It launched the country into a time of uncertainty, in which we learned new terms and experienced a unique sense of community.
Here is a look back on the early events which followed that day.
Dr Ashley Bloomfield becomes a household name
Few could have named the Director-General of Health before Dr Ashley Bloomfield announced the country's first confirmed Covid-19 case on 28 February, 2020.
The person in their 60s, had recently returned to New Zealand from Iran.
The country was about to become very familiar with Bloomfield and other infectious disease specialists like Michael Baker.
Dr Ashley Bloomfield. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
"What this means is we are moving execrably to the next phase of the pandemic response," he told Lisa Owen on Checkpoint that evening.
Calm before the storm
RNZ went out to the streets of Howick in East Auckland a few days later to see how people were feeling.
"I'm not quite worried yet," said one shopper.
But another said she felt more restrictions were needed.
When those restrictions came on 20 March, they were unprecedented.
"New Zealand's borders are shut for the first time in history," Corin Dann told listeners on Morning Report.
In what was to become a daily feature of the early-pandemic, then-Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had gone live on radio and television to the nation to make the announcement.
Then-Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Photo: AFP / Marty Melville
"We will close our borders to any non-residents and citizens attempting to travel here," she said.
New Zealand was closed to tourists and temporary visa holders including students or temporary workers.
RNZ spoke to passengers as the news went out to New Zealanders around the world.
"People are just finding out now... literally being told by other people like us who know because we are looking at our phones," a passenger in Dubai waiting to board a plane told RNZ's Charlotte Cook.
How Covid-19 would affect our lives, in big and small ways, was beginning to be clear.
The day the borders closed, listeners were pleaded with to stop panic buying.
Reporters went into supermarkets to report what was happening.
Shoppers at Countdown Point chevalier lining up. Photo: dan cook
"Many products had restrictions of four-per-customer, but at the baking isle staples like flour were nowhere to be seen," reported Logan Church from a Lower Hutt Pak'n'Save.
In an Auckland Countdown, reporter Katie Doyle said there were gaps on shelves where bread and sanitary products should have been.
The day after borders closed, on 21 March, came the next big change for New Zealanders.
The first lockdown
"Today, I'm announcing an alert system for Covid-19," said the Prime Minister in her daily update.
At level 1, life was relatively normal but with controls at the border.
As the alert system moved up, activities and gatherings became more restricted.
By level four, Covid-19 was considered to not be contained and people had to stay at home only going out for essential movement, work, or services.
Only two days after the alert system was introduced, on 23 March, the country was told it would soon enter Alert Level 4.
"We are all now preparing as a nation to go into self-isolation," said Ardern.
On 26 March, Corin Dann spoke to a New Zealand waking up to a different sort of country.
Downtown Auckland during lockdown. Photo: RNZ / Nik Dirga
"It's a morning like no other in our history, people are confined to their homes," he said, noting that he and then-co-host Susie Ferguson were broadcasting from their own houses that morning.
RNZ reporters stood on lonely corners to report that yes, people were staying home.
Auckland's Queen St was empty, Hamilton felt eerily quiet, but in Foxton, reporter Katie Scotcher joked that some people might argue it was a typical morning in the town.
A spotlight went on those known as 'essential workers,' who had to continue working through the lockdown.
"You don't need me to tell you the coronavirus outbreak has highlighted starkly that the people who perform some of the most fundamental roles in our society at the moment, and also people who are the most exposed to the virus, are among the lowest paid," said RNZ's Emile Donovan in a discussion on The Panel about essential workers.
'Essential workers' joined other new words in New Zealanders vocabulary, such as 'clusters', 'bubbles', 'designated shopper' and 'team of five million.'
We also begun new behaviours, like social distancing, elbow bumping, and greeting people with the upward head nod greeting, the east coast wave.
The country stayed home through Easter and [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/415104/anzac-day-2020-recap-stand-at-dawn stood at the end of their driveways to remember ANZAC day.
People standing in their driveway for ANZAC day 2020. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Then, at last, a little freedom.
Level 3
The country went to Alert Level 3 on 28 April and people could not wait to use that freedom… to go to McDonalds.
"We've been here at this McDonalds since four thirty this morning, and we weren't the first people to arrive," reporter Ellie Jay told Corin Dann as queues formed at takeout shops around the nation.
On 4 May, New Zealand had its first day in months without a new Covid-19 case, and by 14 May the country was able to enter Alert Level 2 after no new cases for three days in a row.
Twenty-one people died over those few months - the first of over 4500 deaths attributed to Covid-19 in New Zealand so far.
But, in 2023, a New Zealand Medical Journal study showed restrictions during the pandemic probably saved around 20,000 lives.
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