Claire Bloomfield had belated birthday celebrations following her self-isolation.
Claire Bloomfield had belated birthday celebrations following her self-isolation.
Claire Bloomfield planned to spend her birthday at work sharing a home-baked coffee and walnut cake with colleagues, followed by an evening sipping cocktails at Loco at Whangārei Town Basin.
But a Northland Covid scare put paid to that and, instead, she spent the day eating her cake in isolation while awaiting a "deep brain probe" on her front deck from two medical staff dressed in what looked like "hazmat suits".
Not that she's complaining; getting the all-clear in time for the long weekend saw her celebrating the never-ending birthday in style.
The pharmacist was on duty at Unichem Orrs Pharmacy Ruakākā the day the Northland woman with Covid visited, sending her and fellow staff members into their own lockdown.
"One of my colleagues rang Sunday night and said 'Have you seen the news?' and to look on the government site. While the pharmacy was able to stay open after staff from other Orrs pharmacies and the owners rallied around, the staff on duty were told to stay home and get tested five days post-exposure, which was Wednesday," she explained.
Bloomfield spent her Tuesday birthday gardening, baking herself a coffee and walnut cake and receiving Skype and phone calls from all around the world – "It was actually really lovely and sociable and there might have been some bubbles too."
Claire Bloomfield found the isolation birthday to be a positive experience.
Classed as essential workers, while the rest of the staff were bulk-tested at the Ruakākā Racecourse, Bloomfield was told to stay put at her further-afield Onerahi home to be tested on Wednesday.
"They phoned and I told them the driveway was quite steep so they could park on the road if they liked and they asked if I had neighbours and I didn't know why they asked that. Then they showed up and I did," she laughed.
Two Covid testers emerged from the vehicle dressed in what looked like "hazmat suits".
"They came out with full pastic blue gowns flapping around and face shields. I was kind of bemused, I'd never had this happen before. They asked me to bring a chair outside, they were very professional."
The test itself was "yucky".
"She said, 'It's going to sting a little bit', and she wasn't lying. It felt like she was doing a deep brain probe."
After receiving the all-clear, Bloomfield was back at work Thursday with the remains of her birthday cake to share.
"I had planned to bake the cake on Monday and take it to work as my birthday shout. In the end, they got less than half of it three days old," she said.
The following day was the long weekend and the planned cocktail evening at Loco went ahead, followed by a road trip to the Waipū markets, a hike through the Tanekaha Walking Track with a soak under the waterfalls and a glass of wine at Te Whai Bay Wines. Yesterday was spent paddle boarding.
"I think the whole experience has actually been really positive," she mused.
"From the speed of response from the MOH to that of my employer and colleagues and the little acts of kindness from the community, such as tray bakes from a local church to the pharmacy staff.
"And then great solidarity from my work team; looking out for each other, messages of support, lots of jokes and banter to keep spirits up on our group chat. And then far-flung friends checking in with me to make sure I was okay and had a lovely day. One friend even posted me a bottle of wine!
