Vaccine passes, mandates to end, hospo capacity doubles
Hospitality businesses can welcome 200 people indoors from this weekend as part of government changes that will also see an end to vaccine passes and mandates from early April.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced a raft of changes to New Zealand’s COVID-19 “traffic light system” following Cabinet’s discussions on Monday.
Key changes include:
From 11.59pm Friday 25 March
Indoor capacity limits for bars and restaurants increases to 200 people, with patrons seated and separated
Capacity limits for all outdoor events are removed
Scanning of QR codes is no longer required
Outdoor face mask requirements are removed
From 11.59pm Monday 4 April
Use of My Vaccine Pass ends (although venues can still choose to use them.
Vaccine mandates end (with the exception of health and disability, aged care, corrections and border workforces).
Hospitality NZ says while an end to mandates for staff and vaccine passes for customers are welcomed by the hospitality and accommodation sectors, increasing the indoor capacity cap will make little difference for larger venues and the changes do not go far enough.
“Moving the cap to 200 is a waste of time, because people still have to be seated. Why 200? It’s nonsensical,” says Hospitality NZ CEO Julie White.
“The cap should be pinned to the capacity of the venue. Lifting it will not work for bars and other night venues. The seated model does not work for them, even with a higher cap.”
White says the removal of outdoor gathering limits while retaining indoor seated limits is also nonsensical. “You can play a game of rugby where players are all over each other, but when they go for a beer later, they have to be seated and spaced apart. How ridiculous is that?”
White questions why the country is staying in a Red setting when Jacinda Ardern has acknowledged that the data shows that virus spread in hospitality is low. “That’s exactly what we have been saying, so if that’s the case why are we staying in the Red setting? To have to wait until the 4th of April when every day counts for those in hospitality and accommodation is just going to be too late for some.”
W: More detail at covid19.govt.nz
