Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins is standing by the settings in which masks must still be worn at Orange.
"Overall, what we're trying to do is manage a balance of risk here. So we do want to keep the trend pointing downwards. That's one of the best ways we can keep people safe. There are no magical answers here. We're trying to get the balance right," he told Breakfast.
Masks are still required in retail settings and on public transport, including domestic flights under Orange. They are also required when visiting health care services such as aged care facilities.
Masks will no longer be required at hospitality venues under Orange.
Under Orange, schools are able to decide whether they enforce the use of masks.
READ MORE: Covid-19: Hipkins defends rules that allow nightclub 'pashing'
That's a step down from requirements under Red, where masks are required for indoor settings in schools and kura for students in Years 4 and above. Teachers and visitors at the schools are also required to wear face coverings.
Greg Harford, Retail NZ chief executive, labelled the continued use of masks in retail and not hospitality and education "absurd".
"Masks are either a key part of the public health response or they not. It's just nonsensical to suggest that there is greater risk in socially distanced retail settings than in crowded nightclubs, school classrooms or cafés."
It left Hipkins defending the rules which allow nightclub "pashing".
Hipkins told Breakfast there is a "rationale" for the continued use of masks in public places such as retail at Orange.
"People need to be able to go to many of those places as part of their day-to-day lives. There'll be elderly people there, there'll be people who are immunocompromised, and we've all got a responsibility and a duty there around making sure we're protecting each other."
Pressed on the lack of masks in nightclubs and the risk patrons could spread the virus, Hipkins said: "People will make those decisions. When they make the decision to go into a nightclub, a bar, a restaurant, we do so with our eyes wide open. We know exactly what it is we are doing there."
READ MORE: Covid-19: Hipkins apologises over Orange mask rule mix up
Hipkins was also forced to defend mask use in schools now being encouraged, rather than required. Breakfast's Matty McLean said it seems like a "no-brainer".
Dr Jin Russell, a consultant developmental paediatrician at Starship, had earlier told Breakfast it would be good to keep mask wearing up in schools heading into winter. Epidemiologist Michael Baker has earlier said the Red school mask requirement should be kept at Orange.
Hipkins said mask use in schools at Red had been "incredibly difficult" and "very challenging".
"We have to acknowledge that schools are in different positions," he said, defending the change at Orange.
"So some schools would have had a significant peak in Covid-19 cases and they'll be out the other side of that. Others are right in the midst of that. We're not saying that mask use isn't justified in schools, we absolutely encourage it and schools do have the ability to require it, so where a school feels in the circumstances of their community that it's something they want to keep that requirement in place, they are absolutely able to do that," Hipkins explained.
"Ultimately schools can make decisions about whether they're going to continue to ask their young people to wear masks. I certainly encourage school students to wear masks where that's practical. That's our message across the board really, which is mask use has a significant role in turning down the spread of the virus. It can reduce transmission of the virus by up to 50%, so in those environments where it's no longer required, but potentially desirable, we'd encourage people to do that."
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