All appears calm at Wellington Hospital on Tuesday - but on the inside it's a different story.
"It's a very hectic department. People are working very hard… there is also anxiety as the numbers increase," says John Tait, chief medical officer for Capital and Coast and Hutt Valley DHBs.
There's been a surge in Wellington community cases, up more than 600 overnight to 2571 new cases across Capital and Coast and Hutt DHBs today.
"There's a pretty full-on outbreak here in Wellington," Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield says.
And it's hitting the hospitals hard, with staff members catching the virus. Now, 15 percent are off work at Wellington Hospital, 16 percent in Porirua and 8 percent in the Hutt Valley.
"We're having some difficulty with nursing staff at night and the afternoon shifts," Tait says.
As the outbreak creeps down the country, authorities are reiterating the message to get boosted.
Nearly a million double-jabbed New Zealanders are yet to get that third shot and Dr Bloomfield says it really takes three jabs to be considered fully-vaxxed.
"We've been talking for several weeks now about shifting the language from that third dose being a booster, to being up to date with vaccinations," he says.
And a fourth jab could even be on the cards for some.
"Three is enough now. It may well be four is what is required, especially for people at higher risk," he says.
And finally, some good news in this outbreak. One of the reasons we're seeing much higher transmission here than predicted is Omicron's subvariant BA.2 is widely circulating. This is the subvariant causing second waves of infection overseas - so we may escape that double hit.
"There's a possibility we will miss that second big peak again that other countries have seen," Dr Bloomfield says.
And if you've had COVID - the Ministry of Health wants to hear from you.
"We'll be looking at experiences in families, whanau, Pacific families as well as people with disabilities," says Ministry of Health chief science advisor Ian Town.
So they can investigate the impact of long COVID.
