Saint Siouxsie

“I’d been training for the marathon, and now the marathon was here”

March 14, 2020 seems like a long time ago now. For many Kiwis, it was probably uneventful. While there were a handful of Covid-19 cases in New Zealand, somehow we were all still labouring under the misapprehension that we were fairly immune. In Hawke’s Bay, I was anxious. My husband was about to return from Germany, where there were 4500 cases and nine recorded deaths.

Remember that time before self-isolation was encouraged for new arrivals? Before mandatory quarantine? Before – and this feels so strange now – the borders shut? That was life on March 14.

I had questions. Should my husband self-isolate, even if he didn’t have to? How risky was his flight home? Would he pick up the virus transferring through the airport in Los Angeles? What if he coughed in the car when I collected him from the airport?

So I did something I would normally never do. I sent a