Post-surf press conference highlight amid Covid stress

Those first two or three months were really probably the

most stressful time because things were

evolving so quickly.

Dr Ashley Bloomfield confesses he once nearly missed a Covid-19 press conference because the “surf was good” at Lyall Bay.

The director general of health could be forgiven, for it would have been one of 307 he’d fronted over the past two and a half years — many at the weekend — as he helmed the country’s pandemic response.

“I had to do it in a T-shirt. The PM’S press secretary commented it looked like I’d just come off the beach, which was absolutely right.”

It’s a lighthearted moment in what’s undoubtedly been the toughest few years of his 25 spent in the public health arena.

Bloomfield steps down from his role today, almost a year before his term was due to end in June 2023.

He made his first appearance of the pandemic on January 30, 2020, to discuss what was then a “novel coronavirus”.

“Kia ora koutou katoa,” he began with, a phrase that became synonymous with probably the most recognisable public figure in Aotearoa — along with “across the motu”.

He worked closely with and often stood alongside Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who said of him “I cannot imagine someone who is a better example of what being a true public servant is”.

Since then his near-daily presence led to an infatuation never before seen for an unelected official, with his face adorning T-shirts and tea towels, countless memes, songs and even a brand of hot sauce.

“Relentless” is how he sums up the time since first learning about the coronavirus, which within months saw Bloomfield having to advise on measures including lockdowns — something that three years ago would have seemed unthinkable.

“Those first two or three months were really probably the most stressful time because things were evolving so quickly, and we just didn’t know where it was going to go,” Bloomfield says.

“The moments of waking up at three in the morning in a cold sweat, night after night, dreaming about Covid, and just really wondering where this was going.”

Another tough point was in 2021, after putting Auckland through a tough lockdown that saw many people reach breaking point, when a decision was made to let go of elimination.

Bloomfield remains quiet on his next steps, revealing only he is looking forward to a “good break planned on the home front”.

“Spend some time with my family and doing the things I enjoy doing, which is being outdoors.

“We live in a great country for that.” As with many after a “tough” few years, he said it was important to “decompress, get my cortisol levels down again”.

The keen mountain biker had also recently taken up surfing, which he said was good to “forget about all the things that are stressful”, provided it could fit around “work commitments”.

Dr Ashley Bloomfield, left