Family values

As families around the country retreated behind closed doors, new mum Samantha Hayes tells Phoebe Watt why she continued to put others first, no matter the personal risk.

- Phoebe Watt

The first interview took place in a Ponsonby cafe, still busy enough at 11 am on a weekday that we opted for the private dining room, away from the bang and hiss of the coffee machine, the scraping of cutlery, the hum of conversation – unwanted white noise that, back then, we were wrong in thinking we’d never miss. It was the day the government announced a ban on public gatherings of over 500 people. Or maybe it was 100. The weeks blur together now but let’s just say that at the time, the New Zealanders who appeared most inconvenienced by the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic were brides whose weddings hung in the balance.

This was not the reality, of course. Even then, all around the country, politicians and economists and business owners and healthcare workers and essential service providers and the sick and the elderly and the fit and the young were all coming to terms with the magnitude of the situation, and trying to imagine and prepare for what the coming days, weeks, and months might look like.

“It’s really overwhelming”, said Newshub at 6 presenter Samantha Hayes at the time. “It’s literally keeping me awake at night. Because it’s scary, and it's everywhere, and we have no idea what's going to happen from here.”

Dressed casually in a blue and white striped shirt and bouncing six-month-old son Marlow on her lap, Samantha’s guard was down. But that evening, when the