Health Minister Andrew Little has defended the reopening of retail ahead of cafes and restaurants as Auckland prepares to move down to Step 2 of Alert Level 3 from midnight today, Tuesday.
Auckland will be moving to Step 2 of Alert Level 3 from 11.59pm on Tuesday, northern Northland is set to move to Alert Level 2 from 11.59pm on Thursday.
Parts of Waikato that are in Covid restrictions moved to Step 2, Level 3 last week. The rest of the country is at Level 2.
Step 2 of Level 3 will allow for the reopening of retail, with a limited number of customers, wearing face masks and social distancing. Gatherings can also increase to up to 25 people.
Little said Cabinet had to think “very carefully” before making their decision on Monday afternoon to move Auckland to Step 2 despite rising Covid-19 case numbers in the past week.
“In the end, where we landed was that the activities that are going to be allowed to happen more - more people going to your home, people going to shops and malls - they are reasonably low-risk activities, comparatively,” he explained on Breakfast.
“We were comfortable with allowing a further step down to the more relaxed sort of level.”
He said the decision to reopen to retail while cafes and restaurants remain closed unless they can be contactless is “something we’re constantly juggling”.
“We’re acutely aware of the pressure that business owners in particular are under and we’ve provided help with the resurgence payments and the other forms of assistance that we’ve been giving businesses.”
Little said while it is “not a substitute” for businesses returning to normal “as quickly as possible”, the Government and health officials must “manage that risk”.
“We know that with Covid, it is transmitted through aerosol transmission. We’ve got to minimise the opportunities for that to happen and do things as safely as we can - that’s what’s informing our approach but we will get there.”
He said the difference between people shopping in a mall and dining in a cafe is the wearing of face masks and social distancing.
“For the people going to the malls and the shops, they still have to wear a mask, there’s still an expectation about social distancing,” he explained.
“To enjoy the benefits of a cafe, you have to take your mask off - that’s where the risk of aerosol transmission is the highest so that’s why we’re being very cautious about those environments where you can’t put a mask on.”
He said socially distancing inside cafes may also prove challenging due to their more confined spaces “so that’s why we are being cautious about that”.
Little said the vaccination rate is what is “going to give us the choices to open things up, move down the alert levels and start returning things to normal”.
“We’re still doing that, we monitor that every week, we’ve got a big check-in on the 29th of November and we’re confident that the vaccination levels will look pretty darn good at that time.
“We’re very focussed on making sure we do everything we can to get things back to normal as soon as we can, but it has to be done safely - that’s what’s informing what we’re doing.”
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