COROMANDEL COVID UPDATE – Monday 23 August 5pm
Written by John Grant on August 23, 2021
The Prime Minister has this afternoon confirmed that the Level 4 lockdown will continue through to Friday 27 August at 11:59pm for New Zealand with Auckland extended till 11:59pm Tuesday 31 August. A further review by Cabinet will take place on Friday to decide what restrictions will apply from Friday evening for all of New Zealand except Auckland the review for Auckland will be on Monday 30 August.
The Prime Minister said they would be looking closely at case numbers and any cases outside of Auckland to help frame the decision as to what changes will take place for the rest of New Zealand at Fridays meeting.
So far the indicators for Coromandel are positive with no cases and no detection of Covid-19 in the wastewater samples. However, Director General of Health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield did single out Coromandel as an example of an area they would be closely reviewing and looking at the day 5 and 12 tests of close contacts to determine the future change to alert level recommendations.
The Prime Minister showed a map of New Zealand with marked blue areas showing where close contacts were now located. This has Coromandel fully covered in blue and blue dots appearing around the entire country.
If Coromandel was to be changed to a lower alert level on Friday then no doubt there will need to be some consideration around movement of people from Auckland to areas such as the Coromandel. No doubt this will be addressed by Cabinet as part of their considerations on Friday.
This will no doubt cause more pain to businesses already impacted by closed borders and the Government has opened the Wage Subsidy Scheme.
The Wage Subsidy Scheme allows eligible employers to apply for support if they expect a loss of 40 percent of revenue because of the alert level increase. The COVID-19 Wage Subsidy August 2021 is a payment for employers to keep paying staff and protect jobs. Applications will be open from 9 am on Friday, 20 August 2021, for two weeks.
Also available for businesses is the Resurgence Support Payment.
The Resurgence Support Payment is available for small businesses that experience a loss of 30 percent of revenue as a result of the alert level increase to level 2 or higher. Eligible businesses can apply to receive up to $1500 plus $400 per full-time equivalent employee, up to a maximum of 50 full-time employees. Applications will open at 8am on 24 August 2021.
You can also access support from the Business Helpline.
If you have questions about Alert levels, how to access Government business support or general resources, call the business helpline. The helpline is free and can be accessed by calling 0800 500 362 for the North Island, or 0800 50 50 96 for the South Island.
Local business online and delivery register.
CFM also intends to publish on its website a list of businesses offering fully compliant online ordering and contactless delivery or click and collect services on the Coromandel and local broadcast areas. If you want to be included in this list then drop us details of who you are, what you offer, how to order and your name and phone contact details to [email protected]. We will contact you to obtain details for the listing. For the duration of the lockdown there will be no charge for this service.
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