No Covid scan? No can do
In the middle of conversation, Michael Petrie turns to a man who has walked into his barbershop who hasn’t signed in. ‘‘Can you scan, bro?’’
Petrie, director of Cuba Barbers on Wellington’s popular Cuba St, is conscious that any day, a new, highly-transmissible strain of coronavirus could be announced in the community.
He is making sure his barbershop is doing its part by getting people scanning in on the NZ Covid Tracer app every time they enter, or to sign in on manual sheets if they do not have a smartphone.
Petrie has gone so far as to enact what could be called a ‘‘no scan, no service policy’’. He doesn’t want to ward people off coming in – it’s not about turning people away, but encouraging people to do the right thing.
Petrie, who holds conversation while cutting hair, said people are generally good if they need to be reminded. It’s normal to forget – but it’s important to remember what is going on in the world, he said. ‘‘We’re advocating for it.’’
No-one who’s needed prompting has taken it in a bad way, he said.
Petrie hopes his prompting of clientele will get other businesses in the Cuba St precinct to get on board with the push, too. ‘‘We just want to avoid that situation as much as possible. We need to go hard, go early and just stay on it. We’ve got to stay well. We can’t blow it.’’
Lockdown ‘‘paralysed’’ his businesses last year – while other barbershops had to shut down, he managed to retain all his staff, albeit on a reduced roster. If people are ‘‘just passing through, doing their thing’’ and not signing in, that puts everything in jeopardy all over again.
Businesses in other parts of the country are incentivising customers to take their Covid scanning seriously.
Blacks Hotel in Ophir, Central Otago, will begin offering guests a 10 per cent discount on meals if they use the Covid-19 tracer app.
‘‘If a small country hotel like us can do it, I’m sure the big chains can jump on the bandwagon as well,’’ managing director Alex Stoddart said. ‘‘Something as simple as scanning in and getting a free dessert could work.
‘‘Maybe something like this could get the ball rolling and then it becomes second nature after a while.’’
Shayne Hunter, deputy directorgeneral of digital data at the Ministry of Health, said the ministry wanted to acknowledge people who were routinely scanning in.
‘‘Your efforts are helping New Zealand’s response to Covid-19 and if there was an outbreak tomorrow, it would make contact tracing an easier task.
‘‘Businesses around New Zealand recognise the importance of people being able to keep a record of where they’ve been, which is why there is so much support for the QR codes.’’
Yesterday, the Covid Tracer app had 2,456,488 registered users. The number of scans was 157,181,754.