Prepare for new normal at level 2

Life at alert level 2 means we can resume many of our favourite pastimes and see our friends again.

People can expect the doors of some shuttered businesses to open — but life as we know it will take on a new normal.

After an extended Cabinet meeting on Monday morning, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced we are moving into level 2 in stages, which started at 11.59pm yesterday.

“We all know there is more to do. We may have won a few battles but we have not won the war,” Adern said on Monday.

Cabinet had agreed the country was ready to move to level 2.

Retail stores, malls, cafes, restaurants, cinemas and public spaces including playgrounds and gyms can open today.

On Monday, May 18, children and young people will return to school.

And next Thursday, May 21, bars will be able to open, as long as they maintain the “three Ss” rule outlined last week.

This rule means hospitality businesses should keep groups seated, separated and they should use table service with a single server to a group. This means each group has one server, though servers can each serve more than one table.

Bars had been left until last because they posed the most risk, Adern said. South Korea had opened bars but then closed them again after there was an outbreak, for example.

“There does need to be a new normal,” she said.

‘There does need to be a new normal. We will be breaking out of people.’ our bubbles. We will be around more

JACINDA ARDERN

“We will be breaking out of our bubbles. We will be around more people.”

Social gatherings should be kept small for now — 10 people or less, she said.

The Prime Minister did not think level 2 would “necessarily” be in place for longer than level 3, but it depended on factors such as the number of new Covid19 cases.

Border restrictions would remain for a long time, as would the expectation of the public observing hand hygiene practices.

“If we slacken up, we might move in the wrong direction,” Ardern said.