Are you prepared for Covid 19?
Everyone, whether you are vaccinated or unvaccinated, should prepare for what you need to do if you get COVID-19. This checklist can help you make a plan.
Being ready helps to keep us all safe
It is only a matter of time before a positive case of COVID-19 is in your community. Most people who get COVID-19 will have a mild to moderate illness, and will fully recover in their own home. For those who need help, the healthcare system will always be available.
Omicron spreads fast — everyone in your house may catch the virus. Being ready for getting COVID-19 is about making sure you and your household have a plan and know what to do. It will mean your whānau and community can help each other if needed.
Download COVID-19: Our isolation plan [PDF, 195 KB]
What you need to plan for
You need to work out what you will do if someone in your household tests positive for COVID-19, because your entire household will need to stay home.
Food and supplies
Organise with friends, whānau or neighbours to do contactless drop-offs of food and supplies. Services like The Student Volunteer Army might be able to help with drop-offs, and Work and Income may be able to help with costs.
Extra care and support
Are there people in your household who might need extra care or support? Talk to any in-home carers you have and agree in advance about what will happen if you need to isolate.
Make plans if you have shared custody of a child or dependant.
Help and support if you have COVID-19
Work and school
Prepare to work or learn from home. Talk to your employer, your child’s school, and community groups to find out what their plans are. Do they need anything from you? Will they be able to support you to work from home, or your children to learn at home?
Write down instructions
Write down any household instructions someone else could easily follow if you get sick and have to go into managed isolation or hospital. Cover things like feeding pets, paying bills and watering plants.
How will you minimise the spread
Think about how you could set up your home to minimise COVID-19 spreading. Draw a map of your home and mark out your zones, for example shared areas, isolation areas, and a sanitising station.
Could ventilation be improved? Even opening windows will help to get rid of the virus.
Practice healthy habits like coughing and sneezing into your elbow, and washing hands to reduce the spread of germs.
Get things ready to isolate
Work out what you will need to help yourself and those around you.
Make a list of whānau information — include everyone's names, ages, NHI numbers, any medical conditions and medication they normally take or medical supplies each person will need. Include emergency contact information like your doctor, afterhours, and any support agencies.
Find activities to pass the time. What might help stop boredom if you are isolating at home?
Put together a hygiene kit:
tissues
soap
sanitiser
masks
cleaning products and gloves
rubbish bags (try to have separate bags for tissues before putting them in your main rubbish bags).
Have items to help with symptoms:
ibuprofen and/or paracetamol
drinks and other medications that help with cold and flu-like symptoms, like lemon tea with honey, and cough syrup
nasal spray, throat lozenges, vapour rubs.
Know and share your plan
Kōrero together — make sure everyone in your household, including children, knows what will happen when you need to isolate. Share plans with those supporting and helping you (or who you are supporting).
Share your plan with wider whānau, neighbours and regular manuhiri/visitors and talk to them about what you will need them to do and how you can help each other.
Let people know you are isolating
Work out how to let people know your household is isolating. This could be a sign for your front door or fence and having a QR code poster so people can keep track of where they have been. If people are helping with contactless drop-offs, do you want them to text or message before they arrive? Beep the car horn from the gate? Use an agreed entrance?
We are self-isolating poster [PDF, 1.5 MB]
Get your QR code poster for at home(external link)
Stay connected
We are all in this together and we will get through together.
Stay connected — arrange regular catch-ups with your whānau, friends and community. If you are isolating, make sure these are online or by phone.
Support your friends, whānau and workmates to make their own plans to get ready.
Find out what your community is doing — is there a group making meals to freeze, sharing planning tips or just staying in the know?
Get your business ready for COVID-19
If you are a business owner or manager, start thinking about what steps you can take to protect your staff and customers, if there is a positive case of COVID-19 in your workplace.
Use the step-by-step guide on business.govt.nz to develop a plan for your business.
Managing the impact of COVID-19 cases at your business | business.govt.nz(external link)
More information
Find contact and support services
Help and support if you test positive for COVID-19
If you test positive for COVID-19