COVID UPDATE – CONFUSION REIGNS – WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE COROMANDEL
Written by John Grant on October 22, 2021
The Government has today announced a number of sweeping changes to help manage the Covid-19. A 3 stage traffic light Green, Orange and Red has been established. You can see an illustration of this here.
The 3 stage traffic light system will come into force when vaccination rates reach 90% for the second dose. New Zealand will move to the new “traffic light” system to manage Covid-19 when District Health Boards have 90 per cent of its eligible population vaccinated.
When each DHB hit this target, the new framework would come into effect. A key measure with the traffic light system is the linking to the use of vaccine certificates.
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- Covid-19 Vaccination Rates by DHB
Confusion Reigns
Whilst the Prime Minister said that families will be able to reunite for Christmas, the detail of this and the implication for visitors to the Coromandel is not clear. The Prime Minister said “Aucklanders will absolutely be able to share Christmas with family”. This is where the confusion starts.
It was unclear from today’s announcement what will happen with the current border around Auckland. Whilst the Prime Minister indicated families will be able to come together prior to Christmas, the detail seems to indicate the Auckland border will continue till all DHB’s in New Zealand reach the 90% second dose. A level only reached by one other country so far being Gibralter.
This must be clarified and as soon as possible. The implication is significant for the Coromandel with the reliance on visitors to the area. What is clear though is the need to be fully vaccinated. Those who do not vaccinate will have limited opportunity to partake in activities such as travel, some retail activities, gyms. going to restaurants and outdoor concerts, etc.
We have asked several sources for clarity and so far have not been able to receive any clear advice on where and when and what will trigger the opening of the current Auckland borders.
We also understand that some of the wider Waikato Level 2 areas such as Kaiaua are actually in the Counties Manukau DHB area and this further complicates the implication of changes that within the 3 traffic light system are linked to the DHB areas.
There is obviously a lot more detail to follow that will clarify these issues and we will further update this post when we get more detail. However, if borders are to be relaxed sooner than later, then the likelihood of Delta arriving in the Coromandel is imminent.
Further updates will follow soon.
