From the House: Prepare to move to traffic light system

Napier MP Stuart Nash.

Grabbing a coffee, going for a meal with friends, working out at the gym, dancing at a concert, screaming at a sports fixture, or just taking your time to browse in a local bookstore will soon be a lot easier – if you are vaccinated.

The new traffic light system comes into force in less than a week. It means more freedoms for fully vaccinated people. The new framework will replace the current Covid alert level system.

Like a traffic light, there are three colours in the system; green, orange and red – and the restrictions increase in that order. Vaccinations and vaccine passes play a major role in all stages.

The Prime Minister has already announced Auckland will enter at red, and that nowhere is expected to be ready to go at green. Announcements about the framework for each region will be announced on Monday, which allows a few days for people to see and plan where they will be moving.

The colour code will be based on science and health advice. We will look at vaccine certificates, we will look at vaccine rates, we'll look at case rates, and they will be the major determining factor.

But we'll also be pragmatic. A good indication is if we hit 90 per cent first doses in a region that is a good sign of where we are heading.

Here in Hawke's Bay, we are at 90 per cent first doses, and are 80 per cent fully vaccinated.

To our friends and neighbours in Gisborne, you are oh-so-close. The Tairawhiti DHB has 85 per cent of its eligible population vaccinated with one dose, with just 1900 more people needing to get to 90 per cent.

If you're fully vaccinated you can go to a hospitality venue, get your hair cut, go to a gym, or large gatherings. What varies is just how large those gatherings are at different levels, and that's exactly the same as what we've had through our alert level system.

Vaccine passes are optional, with the onus on the business itself. But a warning - there are different rules for hospitality venues where vaccination certificates aren't used.

If vaccine passes are used by a venue such as a café, bar or restaurant, then that business will face fewer restrictions. Those that don't use the passes will face limits on the number of patrons.

If hospitality venues decide to use vaccine passes, then their staff members will be required to be vaccinated too.

The number one thing New Zealanders can do is get vaccinated, because the key difference between the two systems is that vaccine passes will shortly be required at places like bars, gyms and restaurants. So download your Vaccine Pass now.

Anyone travelling by Air NZ or the Interislander ferries will also need to be doubly vaccinated.

The hard truth is that Delta is here and it is not going away. No country to date has been able to eliminate Delta completely once it's arrived. We are better positioned than most to tackle it, because of our high vaccinate rate, and the in-built safety measures in the traffic light system, like the use of vaccine passes.

The Covid protection framework doesn't say, "Here's a date where all bets are off and we go back to some kind of normal." It accepts that Covid is around, and is still very problematic in some parts of the world.

We want a framework that actually can see us through that, so that people will know if we do have outbreaks that are difficult, they'll know what will happen.

While life will feel relatively normal under the new system, which is simpler and safer than the alert levels, it's time to get prepared to move.

Stuart Nash is Napier MP