Self-isolating students open up about life in lockdown

A growing list of learning institutions have been dealing with exposures to Covid-19, with hundreds of students left to self-isolate while navigating the struggles of online classes. 

There are seven schools, two universities and a learning centre affected, with Lynfield College and Auckland University among them. 

Part way through the third school term, the number of weeks that senior students have left is dwindling before they head off in different directions.

Lynfield College Head Boy Sanat Singh told Breakfast it's been a "really big bummer" not being able to cherish their final moments. 

"We also have our exams so there are some really big things but also the small things like hanging out with your friends everyday that we're missing." 

Trying to make the most of the situation, in the middle of the city's fifth lockdown, he held a virtual birthday party for his peers over the weekend. 

"We watched movies and played a few games, that was pretty fun." 

While he hasn't been in contact with the Covid-positive student himself, he says the school's leadership had. 

"The main thing that student should know is that the entire school community is behind them, we send a lot of love to their whānau." 

When Annie Hu learned a student in her hall of residence at Auckland University had tested positive for Covid-19, she says it had come as quite a shock. 

A resident who tested positive for the virus on Friday is a resident of the Waipārūrū Hall's Whitaker Block and had attended classes on August 16 and 17 while infectious. 

Students in the hall were notified that night through an email advising them they would need to self-isolate. 

"We had been using lockdown as a floor bubble and to spend time together so it has been a shock to be completely alone in self-isolation," she told Breakfast. 

While most of her time is taken up with class work, she says those in the hall have been finding ways to make fun, like watching movies together remotely.