It's a strange and frightening time for all New Zealanders, but spare an extra thought for Cheryl Henderson and her family.
The usually packed Queen Street was left empty after New Zealand moved into alert level 3 to battle the Covid-19 pandemic, and ultimately heading to a lockdown. Photo: RNZ / Jordan Bond
On Monday, as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the four-week lockdown, Cheryl's husband Bill died after a battle with cancer.
"If we didn't do something by today ... they were going to have keep the body for a month or something," she said.
"So we knew that we had to move quickly and it was very hard to get everything together and, of course, it was only a very small gathering."
The funeral directors scrambled to get up to speed with the quickly changing regulations, and the family was able to hold a small service yesterday afternoon.
Daughter, Coral Bond, said the next month was going to be very strange and they would have to do lots of their grieving online.
"Normally part of the grief journey is you get together, you know? But we've got to do it online."
Bill Henderson worked at TVNZ for 42 years and leaves five children and 15 grandchildren. The family plans to hold a memorial service for his wider group of friends and family at a later date.
Elsewhere in Auckland, the streets were strangely quiet bar supermarkets, liquor stores, and a scattering of still-open retailers.
Few people were at Queen St's usually busy intersection after the country moved into alert level 3 to battle the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo: RNZ / Jordan Bond
At the big Countdown on Dominion Rd, the queue at one stage stretched over 100m, with people being careful to maintain a distance between other shoppers.
"We got everything we needed - nothing we needed was out of stock. They're limiting the amount of people going inside at once and it's actually far calmer than it was before," one shopper said.
"There was lots of fruit and veg and things like that but a few things were missing, like ginger. And beer - or at least our first three or four choices. But Corona - the beer - it's not sold at the shops, in case you want to buy Corona," another said.
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- Government clarifies essential services during lockdown
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Evidently, lots of people plan to get stuck into a bit of DIY with hardware stores like Bunnings on Great North Road reportedly chocka over the past couple of days.
"I've got four weeks of mostly staying at home while I'll be working from home. There will be a lot of spare time so it'll be a good time to catch up on the list of odd jobs that need to be done around the house," one shopper said.
"The stress levels are pretty much like every one else's at the moment. I'm sort of focusing on the small things at the moment, because if I sit back and think about the big picture, you kind of get freaked out. So I'm trying to go, 'Right now I can't control, I can only control what I do'."
Dairies are classified as essential service providers during the lockdown so people can get basic food close to home.
But some dairies have already been hammered by customers who do not want to brave the supermarket queues.
Prakul Raj from the St Lukes Food Market will be shutting during the lockdown.
