There is going to be a lot to unpack after this lockdown.

We all knew it would be highly probably Delta would make it to our shores. The global scientific and medical communities and the scenes we watched on TV made it clear Delta had shifted Covid into a whole new league.

I think we all assumed a country with an elimination strategy would have been thoroughly preparing for a case in the community and the capacity surge that would come with it.

But the slow vaccine rollout, overwhelmed testing stations and hiring of contract tracers in the middle of a lockdown are just a few of the glaring areas where our preparation has been found wanting.

And please don’t for a moment think I am talking about those working on the ground – the swabbers, jabbers, contact tracers, transporters and LAB technicians are working all hours in difficult circumstances and I think I speak for all of us when I say we’re incredibly grateful.

It’s not their fault there aren’t enough of them.

In particular, I’m really feeling for the nurses.

They’re now expected to work even if they’re a close contact. Sure, there are conditions attached, but that there’s now one self-isolation rule for us and another for essential workers shows how unprepared and desperate we are for staff. The Government only last week made the required amendment to Section 70 of the Health Act 1956 to enable this to happen.

And then yesterday Auckland Hospital staff spoke out about some nurses having to wear N95 masks that haven't been fitted properly. A nurse warned this can make masks "useless" against highly-infectious Delta. This sounds crazy, but is one of the many examples of how our essential workers weren’t prioritised to be ready for a community outbreak.

It’s worth noting The Ministry of Health (MOH) has revealed 59 essential workers have tested positive for COVID 19 - nearly a fifth of the current outbreak.

All this comes on top of pre-existing nursing shortages across New Zealand, and ongoing issues around pay and working conditions that have seen many, including our much needed ICU nurses, heading to better opportunities over the ditch.

It’s this stressed and stretched workforce that’s now also needed to run the Covid testing and vaccination programmes.

You’ve be forgiven for questioning what the government has learnt over the last 18 months. I’m sure they’d thought strategically about a Delta outbreak community – perhaps captured on files of paper and in presentations; but where did they think they’d get the appropriate staff to deal with a capacity surge?

Robbing Peter to pay Paul isn’t a long term solution.