The Health Ministry is urging people who are unwell to stay away from rest homes for 48 hours, as the elderly are most at risk to coronavirus.
Geriatrician Dr Phil Wood says we need to protect them by firstly being vigilant about our own health.
Residents at Summerset Retirement Village in Porirua are taking it all in their stride.
"To me self-isolation doesn't mean we have to stay in the villa, we can walk around the village as long as we don't get in close contact with other people in the village," shared resident Roy Bowman said.
The retirement village says it has been preparing for coronavirus since January.
"We've had our own planning process in place, which means we can deal with any eventuality, depending on how bad this virus gets and how many people it affects," village manager Terry Moore said.
Why the virus kills the elderly but spares the young isn’t fully understood yet but World Health Organisation (WHO) figures show nearly 22 per cent of those over the age of 80 who have been infected in China have died.
However, age isn’t the only determining factor as those which existing health conditions are also at risk.
"History of smoking, history of airways diseases, respiratory conditions, general debilities, lack of resilience I think are the big issues, that's the group we are going to have be protecting," Dr Wood said.
The Ministry of Health is urging people who feel unwell not to visit rest homes for 48 hours, and when they do, they should keep their distance.
"For us it's looking after our older folk and we are their protection, they are not necessarily able to protect themselves as well," Dr Wood said.
How we protect those who look after the elderly is also a challenge with Dr Wood saying the aged care workers are a “very, very important” group of people.
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