OPINION: It's nervous times in Wellington as we wait for another round of COVID-19 tests to come back. Are they still COVID-free in the community or has the little bugger got out and run amok?
Two-thousand tests on Thursday and most of them will be revealed on Friday. Hopefully Wellington has dodged a bullet.
I know it feels almost too soon to use that phrase, but I suppose my hope comes from the fact that four close contacts of the COVID-19 tourist have been tested and they are negative.
It's of course good news, but it's confusing. Is it the Delta variant or not?
I thought that was supposed to spread like wildfire, but in this case, not even the close contacts have picked it up so far. Who knows?
But here's what I'm certain about, I've picked up a real sense of COVID fatigue around this Wellington potential outbreak.
Not so much from the people who all rushed to get tested, no, well done to the workers and the general public who appeared to act quickly once they knew.
But getting 'in the know' was frustrating. I still find it madness that the Government sat on the information for close to 11 hours before releasing it.
They've thrown all sorts of excuses our way. The most ridiculous one came from COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins to us on The AM Show. He thought a late night media conference wouldn't be watched or followed.
What a shambles excuse made off the hoof and not his finest work.
We've just had a year of late-night updates. Why suddenly do they not work?
Truth is Hipkins was spinning, covering for a flat-footed Government that got caught out going to bed with the information rather than putting on the number ones and heading back to the Beehive to tell us the full story.
But fingers crossed their extra bit of 'shut-eye' doesn't blindside us with a bigger lockdown.
Duncan Garner hosts The AM Show.
