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Covid-positive families at the centre of the latest outbreak are anxious but getting better as they quarantine at Jet Park in South Auckland, says a woman who's been supporting them.
The Fono health and social services centre has been checking in daily withthe 11 infected people and four close contacts at Jet Park.
Whānau Ora manager Europa Kupu said most had dwindling symptoms but there were other anxieties - often to do with money, jobs or making sure families not in MIQ were ok.
The Ministry of Health has asked every Papatoetoe High School family to isolate at home for two weeks, as well as customers at Kmart Botany and some other locations of interest.
South Seas Healthcare chief executive Lemalu Silao Vaisola-Sefo said a lot of its focus was on the school community.
"The anxiety level among the families, it's got nothing to do with swabbing or Covid. It's got something to do with the kids not going to school now - how's that going to impact on their education, and self-isolating at home, in terms of employment," he said.
Ashwin Kumar was isolating with his wife and three children, the youngest of whom is at Papatoetoe High School.
When they were told to go back into isolation on Tuesday, they did not have ready money or easy access to food, he said.
He called South Seas Healthcare for advice.
"They said 'don't you worry, just stay home, keep calm and we are on our way to help you'. And they were there, they dropped a food parcel and, oh, it was such a relief," he said.
Isolation was difficult but his children were well and his son had tested negative twice.
He was grateful for the support and kind people, he said.
Both The Fono and South Seas were also helping people to navigate access to the support they were entitled to from WINZ and other services quickly.
It was early days, but demand was growing as people realised the challenges ahead.
Vaisola-Sefo said the ripples went much wider, with extended families worrying about those self-isolating.
Kupu said The Fono was helping about 50 families, some of whom were casual workers or not in traditional employment so did not have sick leave or easy access to help.
Others were seeking advice on what type of contact they were and what they needed to do.
"They're not aware of what's happening and what sort of support is out there so we do a lot of reassurance and pastoral care for these families to make sure we provide reassurance and the right sort of care for them," she said.
