Aucklanders are facing very long waits in queues to get tested for COVID-19.
It comes as the Omicron surge continues in New Zealand, with 2365 new cases and two deaths reported on Monday.
Queues at Auckland testing stations on Monday were at a standstill and were as bad as they've ever been.
"I didn't know it was going to be like this. I have a hospital appointment on Thursday, I have to have a test," one person in a queue tells Newshub.
The long-awaited promise of rapid antigen tests (RATs) did little to quicken the queues.
"The logical thing to me would be to pass RATs out along the line, don't know why they're not doing that," another says.
"I hoped it would've been faster than sitting in a queue waiting for it," a third says.
The Te Atatu testing station had to be briefly closed to deal with excess traffic and frustrated motorists.
"On occasion we've had to close the sites down for an hour or two to de-escalate the situation," says Matt Hannant, director of operations at the Northern Region Health Coordination Centre.
For the first time, RATs could be picked up directly from testing stations on Monday and already it's helping alleviate the stressed system.
"We're about a third down on the number of PCR tests that we would normally do, so what that means is the right people are getting the right tests at the right time," Hannant says.
But delays have had a massive and widespread impact.
"I went to two other places before I came here and it was really packed as well," says close contact Kaitlyn Tutt.
Tutt is a primary school teacher and is one of the hundreds of teachers unable to get back to her class.
"Some of my kids in my class got tested last week on Tuesday and they're still waiting."
Papatoetoe High School is one of 447 schools around the country dealing with COVID cases. Thirteen teachers have tested positive so far and on Monday morning, four students were confirmed positive.
Papatoetoe High School principal Vaughan Couillault is also the Secondary Principals' Association president and says most high schools in Auckland will move to online learning by the end of the week.
"I reckon we have about three or four days left before it gets all a bit crunchy. We won't have enough staff to cover the classes," he says.
But according to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, schools can already access RATs to get teachers back to class as soon as they can.
"I've been advised that up to 200,000 rapid antigen tests have been distributed across the country to enable schools to make a decision if they would like to allow teachers to return," she says.
That will come as a massive relief not just to teachers, but parents too.
