Covid-19 Omicron: Dr Ashley Bloomfield's 'most stressful moment' - and what he does to unwind

Dr Ashley Bloomfield confesses he once nearly missed a Covid-19 press conference because the "surf was good" at Lyall Bay.

The director general of health could be forgiven, for it would have been one of 307 he'd fronted over the past two-and-a-half years - many at the weekend - as he helmed the country's pandemic response.

"I had to do it in a T-shirt. The PM's press secretary commented it looked like I'd just come off the beach, which was absolutely right."

It's a lighthearted moment in what's undoubtedly been the toughest few years of his 25 spent in the public health arena.

Bloomfield steps down from his role on Friday almost a year before his term was due to end in June 2023.

Director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield during his last Covid-19 response update press conference at the Ministry of Health. Photo / Mark Mitchell

He made his first appearance of the pandemic on January 30, 2020, to discuss what was then a "novel coronavirus".

"Kia ora koutou katoa," he began with, a phrase that became synonymous with probably the most recognisable public figure in Aotearoa - along with "across the motu" and perhaps "spread your legs".

He worked closely with and often stood alongside Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who said of him "I cannot imagine someone who is a better example of what being a true public servant is".

Staff form a guard of honour for director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield as he leaves his last Covid-19 response update. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Since then his near-daily presence led to an infatuation never before seen for an unelected official, with his face adorning T-shirts and tea towels, countless memes, songs and even a brand of hot sauce.

"Relentless" is how he sums up the time since first learning about the coronavirus, which within months saw Bloomfield having to advise on measures including lockdowns - something that three years ago would have seemed unthinkable.

"Those first two or three months were really probably the most stressful time because things were evolving so quickly, and we just didn't know where it was going to go," Bloomfield tells the Herald.

"The moments of waking up at three in the morning in a cold sweat, night after night, dreaming about Covid, and just really wondering where this was going."

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Another tough point was in 2021, after putting Auckland through a tough lockdown that saw many reach breaking point, when a decision was made to let go of elimination.

"It felt a lot better than it would have felt back in March 2020, when we could see what was happening around the globe," Bloomfield said.

"Our approach... was always to make sure when the virus did get into our community, we had had the opportunity to vaccinate as many people as possible."

Asked if he felt that Auckland lockdown had gone on too long, as former Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins admitted, Bloomfield said he had not analysed it too in-depth.

"But we were reviewing advice on an almost daily basis to make sure we didn't keep communities and locked down for any longer than was necessary to achieve elimination."

Along with some of the health measures, the levels of misinformation during the pandemic were unprecedented, much of it on show during the occupation at Parliament branded as against mandates but which drew in a whole spectrum of conspiracy theories.

Bloomfield said while concerning he did not believe it was unique to health issues, nor was it entirely new.

"I've been a public health professional now for 25 years and during that time I've variously been called a public health Nazi and public health jihadist.

"So I don't spend too much time dwelling on that - you've got to be pretty resilient and tenacious in public health."

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield during one of his 307 press conferences. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Bloomfield said conversely, he'd noticed when people were given good information they responded well, including pursuing elimination and overall vaccination levels.

"The whole misinformation, disinformation, ultimately is about the level of trust you have from the community. If you can build that trust, you've got more firepower."

The majority of his correspondence had been "positive messages of gratitude, and thanks from New Zealanders", he said, and he hadn't taken any extra security measures.

"Unfortunately, we do see people venting their emotions online and saying things, making quite significant threats to people they wouldn't necessarily do if it was a face-to-face situation.

"But I think that's a bigger challenge for social media and the web. I think there's more work that countries and indeed social media companies need to do to address that sort of behaviour online. It's certainly not unique to the situation during the pandemic."

Bloomfield remains quiet on his next steps, revealing only he is looking forward to a "good break planned on the home front".

"Spend some time with my family and doing the things I enjoy doing, which is being outdoors. We live in a great country for that."

As with many after a "tough" few years, he said it was important to "decompress, get my cortisol levels down again".

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The known keen mountain biker had also recently taken up surfing, which he said was good to "forget about all the things that are stressful", provided it could fit around "work commitments".

"Surfing seems to be a good way to do that, just trying to get the timing right for that next wave, and then trying to stand up, is enough of a challenge for me and that takes full focus."

He said a key lesson learned from the pandemic was in how to appropriately convey important information and the resilience and resourcefulness of communities.

"We've seen time and time again over the last two and a half years, people get on and do what needs to be done and are really good at looking after each other.

"So very often as leaders, we spend a lot of time explaining what people need to do and how to do it.

"But if we just focus on you know, here's the situation and here's why you need to do this thing, people actually will do quite extraordinary things."