Hawke's Bay Hospital is hoping a complete reconfiguration into Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 areas, will reassure the public that it is a safe place to seek help in a medical emergency.
The number of people turning up to the emergency department has fallen dramatically.
Doctors are worried people aren't getting the help they need because they fear they might catch the virus.
Alarmingly, that includes two patients who turned up three days after having heart attacks.
But as Anusha Bradley reports, the rapid construction of a new facility to triage suspected Covid patients hopes to turn that around, as the hospital braces itself for the winter flu season.
