As Katherine enters its second week in lockdown, some residents are questioning how the small town will cope as the growing COVID-19 outbreak incapacitates essential staff and shuts key services.
The town's main street was deserted yesterday after two new local cases saw the current lockdown extended by 48 hours.
If restrictions ease as scheduled tomorrow night, the 6,300 residents of the usually COVID-free town will have had some restrictions in place for almost three weeks.
"People are feeling a little bit anxious," said Country Liberal Party member for Katherine, Jo Hersey.
"People are wanting to get back to work. People are going a little bit stir crazy at home."
Katherine's court has been closed, with most matters to take place via phone or video in the coming days.
The ABC understands a person may have visited the court before testing positive and sought confirmation from the government yesterday.
A court notice late yesterday said the building would stay closed because of "information received".
On Tuesday morning the court was listed as a casual contact exposure site on the NT government's coronavirus website.
Meanwhile, the local Centrelink service centre was determined to be a close contact exposure site on Monday, and it will also be closed until replacement staff can be deployed.
Katherine's only major supermarket, which has now been listed as an exposure site a handful of times, also had to roll down its shutters at 2pm because many of its team members had been ordered to isolate.
"We understand this is frustrating and regret the impact it is having on our customers," a Woolworths spokesperson said.
"Customers and team members should be assured they can continue to safely shop and work at our Katherine store."
Last week, the supermarket had to reduce its opening hours because about half its staff were in isolation awaiting COVID test results.
Online ordering has also been paused.
Ms Hersey said the ongoing restrictions had impacted the small town differently than they would in major cities.
"It does cause a problem that we only have one supermarket," she said.
"I would stress to people maybe just to clear your freezer out, clear your cupboards out, which I've chosen to do.
"I'd rather not go to Woolworths and, potentially, be at risk of being a casual or close contact with someone else."
Federal government figures show that more than $250,000 worth of COVID-19 disaster payments have been made to people in the Northern Territory in the past week.
Katherine's current lockdown was prompted last Monday with the detection of two new cases, and the roughly 30 cases diagnosed since then include people in the remote communities of Robinson River and Binjari.
Authorities say continuing positive wastewater test results for a catchment in Katherine East could mean more cases are on the way.
Test results due back from a town camp on Katherine's outskirts and the community of Rockhole will today show whether the outbreak has spread further.
It's not yet known when a lockdown decision will be made.
"I certainly hope everyone just sits tight. If they haven't been vaccinated, get vaccinated. If you haven't been tested and you've got a message to go and get a test, get tested," Ms Hersey said.
"We just need to hold tight a little bit longer and, hopefully, we will all get through this."
