New Zealand started lockdown a couple nights ago. The lockdown here includes shutting down all non-essential businesses (including takeaway service from restaurants). Grocery stores are still open. The one I’ve been going to was relatively calm when I went on Tuesday to get a few things.

As of yesterday, there were 283 cases in New Zealand. It’s escalating quickly: 78 yesterday, 50 on Wednesday, and 40 on Tuesday. The Ministry of Health’s current cases page has been helpful in keeping up to date.

Domestic air service will be severely limited after tonight (Friday). International service is still running—as far as I can tell, there haven’t been any AKL to LAX cancelations this past week.

I’m scheduled to leave Auckland at 10:55 PM tonight, landing in LA at 3:00 PM (Friday). That gives me 44 hours of Friday, March 27th. My longest day.

I reserved an Airbnb in Long Beach to stay in for the next couple weeks. My plan is to self-isolate as much as possible in case I get infected on my trip back.

After that, who knows. I suppose I’ll start apartment hunting? I think it’ll be a while before we get through this, so I can’t imagine traveling internationally for a while.