Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins has defended the mask-wearing rules under the Orange traffic light setting that will require them to be worn in retail stores yet also allow people to make out in a nightclub.
New Zealand is to move to Orange in the traffic light settings from 11.59pm tonight, Wednesday April 13.
There are no limits for indoor or outdoor gatherings under Orange, and face masks are encouraged but not required at gatherings.
Masks are required on public transport, in retail, and health and aged care facilities, among other places.
READ MORE: Covid-19: New Zealand to move to Orange from 11.59pm tonight
Hipkins was grilled over the rules that would allow people to sing and dance together in hospitality venues with no limits on capacity, yet would still be required to wear masks at supermarkets and other retail stores.
"At a hospitality venue you're typically consuming food and drink. With the seated and separated rule no longer in place, that makes the use of masks less effective or less useful because people drinking and walking around wouldn't be wearing a mask and other people would be.
"In retail, people aren't going to be consuming food and drink."
He was then questioned on why people could kiss on a dance floor but had to wear a mask to go to the supermarket.
"Where is your logic on that?" he was asked.
Hipkins said it was a "question of volume".
"There are going to be a lot more people in the supermarket on a weekly basis than are going to be out and about pashing on a dance floor."
Later on in the media conference, Hipkins was asked whether he would be visiting a nightclub under the Orange settings, to which he declined, citing his two young kids.
"I'm just looking forward to spending some time with my family over the Easter break," he said.
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