Will Rotorua get green light on Covid-19 rules?
Retailers hoping for good news in today’s review of coronavirus limits
Rotorua residents will find out today if the district moves to a green Covid-19 traffic light setting. All of New Zealand apart from Northland is in the orange traffic light setting. Northland is in red.
Green means there is limited community transmission and hospitalisations are manageable.
Under the green traffic light setting, face coverings are further relaxed and are only mandatory on flights and in some settings where vaccine passes are not used.
For businesses where vaccine passes are used, there are no people limits for hospitality, close-contact businesses, some gatherings (weddings, places of worship, marae), events and gyms.
Businesses that choose not to use vaccine passes are allowed up to 100 people and one-metre distancing for hospitality, some gatherings, events, gyms. Masks must be used in closecontact businesses.
The Cabinet will review settings and provide an update today. Updates are expected to continue fortnightly.
Determinants of traffic light settings include vaccination, the state of the health system, testing, contact tracing and case management capacity, as well as the rate and effect of virus transmission.
As of January 11, 92 per cent of eligible Lakes residents had received one dose and 89 per cent were fully vaccinated, Ministry of Health data showed.
Half the town still don’t know what
the rules are and what they’re meant
to be doing. Sarah Pearson, Honeycomb Hair and
Beauty on Tutanekai St owner
The Early Bird Cafe owner Anthony Estrada said a move into green would “absolutely make a difference” for Rotorua.
“It would give a feeling of relief,” Estrada told the Rotorua Daily Post.
“Our customers would be able to have a sense of normality.”
Kanuka Boutique Florist owner Julie Fiske hoped a move into green would bring more people into town.
“More people would want to walk around and go shopping. It would be great.”
Honeycomb Hair and Beauty on Tutanekai St owner Sarah Pearson thought green would bring “a sense of ease” to the community. “We’ve got to learn to live with [Covid-19]. It’s already here,” Pearson said.
“We’ve got to do what we’ve got to do. [But] half the town still don’t know what the rules are and what they’re meant to be doing.”
Our House Rotorua owner Tim Smith said a change to green in the traffic light system hadn’t been on his mind.
“There’s not a lot of difference between orange and green.
“While it will be great for New Zealand to get to green, it won’t make
much of a difference to our business and our customer experience,” he said.
Smith said that at orange people were already able to move around and dance but he hoped a green light would continue to bring some vibrancy back to Rotorua’s nightlife.
One Rotorua CBD retailer, who
spoke with the Daily Post on the condition of anonymity, was less optimistic. “I don’t think a change to green would make much of a difference for us,” the retailer said.
“I just want to live normally whether it’s with masks or not.”
The retailer said only the return of tourists would make a real difference.