Covid 19 coronavirus: Week one of lockdown - what life's been like for essential workers

By RNZ

The first full working week of the new normal is almost over, most New Zealanders are holed up at home and relying on essential workers to keep the country running. So how are those workers getting on?

Supermarkets

Countdown says demand is still high in supermarkets, as people continue to stock up on food.

"Our supply chain was extremely destabilised by the past months shopping, which has caused the impact we're still working through now," Countdown's general manager of corporate affairs, safety and sustainability Kiri Hannifin said.

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She said it's been disappointing to see supermarket workers being treated dreadfully by customers.

"We're not seeing the level of panic buying that we were seeing, but we're still seeing pretty heavy demands.

"It's still pretty tough on our team, I'm not going to lie to you."

The business had welcomed 1000 new employees over the past week, she said.

General practitioners

GPs say their profession is facing a financial crisis because of the lockdown.

The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners says 600 of 900 members who responded to a survey yesterday said their hours had been reduced.

Medical director of the College of General Practitioners Bryan Betty said the shift to phone or video consultations because of Covid-19 had caused a big downturn in income.

"One of the things that has happened over the last week or two has been an absolute slump in cashflow to practices which is proving to be stressful on general practice and general practitioners."

There was not much room for slippage, he said.

"The ministry has given us assurances they're going to step in and sort this out next week, we're hoping."

Keeping practices viable was important now and GPs would have a huge backlog of work once the lockdown lifted, he said.

Aged care

A charity helping older people says it's been inundated with volunteers wanting to help drop off groceries and make phone calls to the elderly.

Age Concern says its branches around the country have been busy, but it is buoyed by the offers of help.

"We've been inundated with new volunteers wanting to give a hand in some way. New Zealanders are helpers," chief executive Stephanie Clare said.

Local businesses with downtime were also helping.

"A caring connected community will continue after this."

While older communities were often stoic, Clare said everyone needed help.

"Our older community is listening and staying at home looking after themselves."

Homeless

It had been a very intense week, Auckland City Mission CEO Chris Farrelly told Morning Report.

"Busy would be an understatement."

Getting homeless into housing, providing food and healthcare were all key areas being worked on across the country, he said.

"We're rapidly putting into motel units homeless people. If you're telling people to self-isolate at home and you don't have a home, what happens?"

Homeless people often had other issues that required intense support, he said.

"This is probably our most significant challenge now."

Truckies

Road Transport Forum CEO Nick Leggett says there are heightened levels of anxiety for drivers.

"We're just reminding drivers: you've got to stay safe and you've got to stick to the speed limits."

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Truck drivers unable to find toilets to use or a hot drink at the beginning at the week have had a reprieve, as councils open up public toilets for their use and a petrol station chain is serving hot drinks again.

"It's those things that you take for granted, but when life is a bit tougher and there are fewer people working, and there's more anxiety, not being able to get a cup of coffee actually can make a big difference."

Farmers

Farmers say they're coping well through the lockdown and are pleased they're able to help produce food for the country during such an uncertain time.

Federated Farmers president Katie Milne said the drought was complicating their work, but by and large farmers were getting on okay.

She said safety measures such as distancing has slowed some work down - but often farmers were alone anyway, and happy to be able to do their job.

"We're lucky in the type of work we have in that regard.

"We do normally work in a lot of our jobs in some isolation."