One of the Covid-19 community cases is an AUT student who was in a lecture at the university’s Auckland city campus on Tuesday while infectious. Re: journalist Farida Refaat, who also attends AUT, spoke to students about the news and being back in lockdown.
Rachel, 21
“I was thinking it could’ve been someone I know. And although we’re young and we’re not at high risk of dying from it, I was worried about the guilt that student would’ve felt knowing they’ve potentially infected people at the lecture. I didn’t want that to happen to any of my friends.
“[Also], I was in Whangarei when the lockdown was announced. I’m worried about getting back home to Auckland since I’m stuck here for now. At least there’s uni work this lockdown, we didn’t have any last lockdown and there was only so much of those frothy little coffees I could make. But I think I’m coping better than last lockdown, there’s less anxiety since we’ve done it before.”
Rahmah, 18
“I was shook. Me and my friends were really worried. It was just weird because you don’t really know anyone who had Covid, so seeing it was someone at a place I was literally just at was a shock.
“I was already behind in class so it was good for me to be able to go in and talk to my tutors and get help from the student hub, but now I can’t do that. One of our assessments has already been changed to online which is a bit overwhelming.”
Daniel, 21
“I was around the campus but personally I couldn’t give a toss where the case was from. It was more just an issue of having to go into lockdown
“I have no concerns, I’m just generally fed up with the entire thing. It’s been going on for two bloody years and every time there’s one little case everyone freaks out.
“We only hear about how contagious it is but they never actually give me any stats about how deadly it is or how bad the symptoms are. I don’t care about how easy it is to catch, I wanna know how bad it’s gonna be once I catch it. So I actually know whether this (lockdown) is actually justified. I’m tired, I’m done - I just want it to be over.”
Alex, 20
“I was a little worried but luckily I wasn’t really in the same area. I was kinda worried someone I know might have got it.”
“Just based on previous experience, I know it’s gonna be really tough. It’s looking like lockdown is gonna be extended too. It’s hard to do the work for my degree in lockdown. You need open space and help from your peers. We haven’t really been informed about online classes yet and online is just not ideal, you can’t get into your work as easily. But some of our assessments have been postponed so that’s a bonus.”
Marlow, 20
“I felt a little iffy. It was obviously a bit worrying. It’s pretty bad especially because of how fast things have spread with the Delta case. But I was out of that area that particular day thankfully.
“It was literally my birthday on the day of the lockdown. My mum was gonna come up from the Coromandel but we found out the lockdown starts at 11:59pm so she couldn’t come anymore. I kinda just re-planned things and hung out with my friends. Just had everyone over and made sure they left at like 11:30pm.”
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