Aucklanders are now almost a week into Alert Level 2.5, despite many thinking the city wasn’t ready given the number of cases in its current cluster.
But not without a few measures. Masks are now mandatory on all public transport, and social gatherings are limited to 10 people and funerals and tangihanga limited to 50.
This is now the ‘new normal’ for New Zealand’s biggest city – but for many Pacific people, their lives are anything but.
Food banks and social services are reporting record demand as the effects of two lockdowns hit hard.
Pacific people make up just over 60% of the cases in the Auckland cluster, so churches and other community groups are doing their part. But because of this financial hardship, Pacific high school students are leaving school to help their parents put food on the table.
“I think because of Covid-19, it’s put a magnifying glass on a lot of the systemic issues we’ve been facing as a community for a very long time,” Aigagalefili Fepulea’i Tapua’i told TVNZ’s Breakfast.
And with Covid-19 still present in the community, it’s hard to tell how long or widespread these issues will be felt.
Watch more above.
Below: Siaola is one of the many community groups doing their part to fight Covid-19 in Auckland.
You can find a list of food banks in Auckland here.
