TLDR & TLDL: Auckland will stay in the ‘red’ zone until Dec 30, dashing the hopes of hospitality and events venues that they could host events with more than 100 people in the last week before Christmas. Business leaders predicted many would go under because of the extension for another 17 days.
PM Jacinda Ardern announced at this afternoon’s last post-Cabinet news conference of the year that the Government had decided to keep Auckland ‘red’ until 11.59 on Dec 30, which would be 28 days or two full Covid incubation cycles after the Dec 3 beginning of the ‘traffic light system’.
Auckland will move into ‘orange’ on the day of New Years Eve along with all the other ‘red’ areas, except for Northland. Orange means venues can hold more than 100 vaccinated patrons, while ‘red’ limits numbers to 100 at any one time.
The next Cabinet decision on the traffic lights will not be until Jan 17. Ardern also introduced doubt into whether New Zealanders could come home from Australia after Jan 17 and be able to self-isolate, given the recent news about Omicron being more infectious. She also left open the option that seven days self-isolation would be needed for all arrivals throughout all of 2022.
Business leaders and the Opposition were sharply critical of the decision. See more from Ardern and the reaction below the paywall fold, along with my short podcast above.
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