After more than 300 routine COVID-19 briefings since January 2020, the Ministry of Health is saying haere rā to the tradition.
As case numbers fall to the lowest levels since February, it said we're entering a "new stage in the pandemic", however, the pandemic is far from over for some people.
"The pandemic is over," US President Joe Biden said.
A bold declaration from Biden despite the virus still killing hundreds of Americans each day.
But it's a view that is not supported by our top health officials.
Deputy Director-General and head of the Public Health Agency Dr Andrew Old told Newshub Biden was wrong, but not completely.
"He is right that the pandemic is at its lowest levels since early 2020," Dr Old said.
Levels reflected in New Zealand with COVID-19 cases, hospitalisations and related deaths on the decline for five weeks.
"We have reached a new stage in the pandemic here in New Zealand," Dr Old said.
The ministry on Wednesday signalled the end of an era with the end of a tradition.
"With the shift to this new stage of our COVID response, I can confirm that for now, this is the last routine COVID press briefing," Dr Old said.
But entering that new stage is simply not possible for some.
"I first developed COVID in April," long COVID sufferer Scout Barbour-Evans said. "My flatmate brought it home from school and I remember it didn't hit me very hard, I didn't have many of the cold symptoms. What I did get was this ground-shattering exhaustion."
Barbour-Evans was diagnosed with long COVID and to this day, barely has the energy to stand up.
"My blood pressure just tanks," Barbour-Evans said.
The Ministry of Health last week published long-awaited guidelines on long COVID. It's defined as having symptoms for more than 12 weeks.
To give you an idea of how prevalent it is, a study of 65 Māori participants found that 43 percent had symptoms for more than a month, and of them, 75 percent of them had symptoms for more than three months.
"There's still a lot we don't know but it's certainly something we're concerned about," Dr Old said.
As the world around them moves on, COVID-19 is still very real for people like Barbour-Evans.
