4 more weeks
Limit on gatherings up to 100 but move to level 1 must wait, writes Derek Cheng
Kiwis face at least four more weeks of alert level 2, despite barely any new Covid cases and the limit on all public gatherings being raised to 100 from Friday.
Physical distancing obligations and limits on social gatherings remain, but from Friday people can have 100 people at weddings and funerals — as well as private parties.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the low number of new Covid19 cases, including only three in the past fortnight, allowed the 10-person limit on gatherings and 50-person limit on funerals and tangi and church services to be eased. Private parties are also allowed from Friday.
However instead of increasing the limit in stages, as Australia is doing, Ardern said it could jump straight to 100 from midday Friday.
But New Zealand must stay at alert level 2 for at least a further month.
Cabinet will review the level 2 settings on June 8 — but will not consider whether the nation is ready to move to level 1 until June 22.
If ready, Kiwis would be given a few days' notice before the change.
The latest move is likely to be welcomed by event organisers, churches, wedding planners and funeral directors who have all been stymied by the restrictions to date.
But Professor Michael Plank, from Te Pu¯naha Matatini and Canterbury University, yesterday said it was a “cause for concern”.
“Covid-19 doesn't tend to spread in ones and twos. It tends to spread to a large number of people in one go at big, social gatherings, such as a wedding or bar,” Plank said. “If this happens, trying to trace 100 people and all their contacts is a lot harder than if there were just 10.”
Ardern clarified that the three Ss — seated, single server, and separation — will still apply for bars and restaurants to reduce mingling with strangers, meaning public dance floors must stay empty.
But private parties with dance floors have been given the green light,
egate at SkyCity, felt tossed around by the news of the relief payment.
“When I heard about it, there was a sense of relief,” she said. “But then there was disappointment when I found out it was capped at $30,000 in redundancy payments. “That just shattered me.” Barnett still supports a daughter, 16, and before Covid she had two sons aged 17 and 18 at Tangaroa College in tara. They have now left school.
“They chose to go and work to help Mum out. They managed to become labourers on construction sites.”
She is now thinking of leaving Auckland to find cheaper housing.
Wellington music student William Lopez Sanchez, 23, expects he may qualify for the $250-a-week part-time Covid relief payment because the Lambton Quay Burger King where he worked for about 20 hours a week has closed down.
He also borrows about $250 a week for living expenses through the student loan system, and pays $210 in rent, so the relief payment will be a welcome bonus.
“It won’t exactly replace what I had before, but I can make do on it without struggling,” he said.
Chief executive of Community Law Centres Sue Moroney said it was disappointing the Government hadn’t used the opportunity to address migrant workers who’d lost their jobs but couldn’t access any support. “It’s a developing humanitarian migrant crisis ... It’s inexplicable why the Government hasn’t done anything.”
Moroney is calling for the Government to use Section 64 of the Social Security Act to grant emergency benefits to people not otherwise entitled to them while an epidemic notice is in place.
where physical distancing rules will be effectively reduced to guidelines rather than obligations.
Asked about people planning a party for Friday night, Ardern said: “Keep a list of who you’ve invited.”
The current settings under level 1 have no restrictions on social gatherings, and no obligations — only an encouragement — for physical distancing. Border limits will stay.
No new cases of Covid-19 were reported yesterday, and with no new recoveries, active cases remain at 27.
Yesterday the Ministry of Health published its definition of elimination — a broad range of control measures to stop the transmission of Covid-19.
“Elimination does not mean eradicating the virus permanently from New Zealand; rather it is being confident we have eliminated chains of transmission in our community for at least 28 days and can effectively contain any future imported cases from overseas.”
It is unclear if that meant 28 days of no new cases was a prerequisite for success.
Director general of health Ashley Bloomfield said elimination was an ongoing process. “There’s still a pandemic out there. Even if we’re confident there’s no transmission of disease inside the country, the possibility of it coming in means we need to maintain an elimination approach.
“If we do get a case, we need to be able to test, we need to be able to isolate and contact trace.”
A 28-day Covid-free window was similar to a definition proposed yesterday in a University of Otago public health blog, authored by professors Nick Wilson, Michael Baker, and Martin Eichner, and doctors Matthew Parry and Ayesha Verrall.
The modelling they outlined showed that no new cases for between 27 and 33 days meant Covid19 was eradicated with 95 per cent probability. For a 99 per cent level of probability, the blog said, it would have to be between 37 to 44 days.
Meanwhile Otago associate professor Brian Cox said there were five active cases outside of the main clusters, and two weeks since an outof-cluster case was identified.
This indicated “we are on the verge of completely eradicating Covid-19”.
The risk of importing cases meant border checks — including testing of passengers before they depart and as they arrive — should be in place before any travel between Covid-free countries might be allowed, he added.
Ardern said a transtasman Covidfree bubble was still on the cards, and could even happen with some Australian states if not all of them had the virus contained.
Both countries would need to be satisfied that the chances of spreading the virus between the countries was effectively zero, she added.
Yesterday the Government said Kiwis who lost their jobs due to the Covid-19 crisis will be able to get $490 a week tax-free for 12 weeks.