Canopy Tours Rotorua general manager Paul Button. Photo / Andrew Warner
The move to phase 2 of the Omicron response brings little relief to Rotorua businesses struggling to cope under Red traffic light restrictions.
One tourism operator says redundancies are not off the table for the hard-hit sector.
Another says a major outbreak could see the city face a similar situation to Queenstown, which has been predicted to be "closed by Friday" as its cases grow and send workers into isolation.
There were 10 new Covid community cases in the Lakes District Health Board area yesterday, among 744 nationwide. Forty people were in hospital, none locally.
At 11.59pm, New Zealand moved to phase 2 of the Government's three-phase Omicron outbreak response plan, loosening some isolation rules and allowing wider use of rapid testing alongside PCR testing.
Red restrictions remain.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday it would be a phase of "greater self-management".
Self-isolation requirements are shortened from 14 to 10 days and from 10 to seven days for close contacts.
A close contact exemption scheme has been activated, meaning asymptomatic, vaccinated close contacts in critical services can keep going to work - with testing - instead of self-isolating.
Businesses signing up for the scheme will be eligible for some free rapid antigen tests (RATs).
Rotorua Canopy Tours general manager Paul Button said phase 2 alone would not relieve the pressures of the Red traffic light setting, which had caused "plummeting" sales.
He said redundancies weren't off the table for the struggling tourism sector.
"We need the borders open and we need the isolation [for visitors] to be removed ... it's so tough.
"The longer this Omicron outbreak goes for and the restrictions are in place, the longer business will be losing money."
He said if his business was hit by Covid, only four employees should be impacted due to the way the team was split. He had tried to source some RATs, without luck.
Hospitality NZ accommodation sector Rotorua vice-chairman and Aura Accommodation owner Nick Fitzgerald said staffing was the biggest concern, as a small business.
He expected phase 2 would be "really messy".
"You're starting to hear things like Queenstown saying they'll shut because there are so many locations of interest, it won't be very different here."
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He said the situation was exacerbated by nationwide staff shortages in hospitality and tourism, which meant all staff on deck for busy weekends, he said.
He said he privately ordered RATs in January and would use them for peace of mind as his staff were not considered critical workers and the tests wouldn't allow them to return to work earlier.
If a guest caught Covid, for example, staff could use a rapid test even though the business was structured to avoid them becoming close contacts.
Unichem The Mall Pharmacy owner and pharmacist Brett Fordyce said it did not stock RATs but had several businesses asking about them.
He was not keen for pharmacies to distribute the tests, as it may bring people with Covid into the store and put staff at risk.
This would be detrimental to the community because in the worst-case scenario, the pharmacy would need to shut and could not perform its critical work.
As a critical service, he said the business had been provided with RATs for staff to self-test themselves, which would make navigating phase 2 easier.
As of 4pm on Monday, 6922 businesses across the country had self-registered as critical services, a Ministry of Business and Innovation spokesman said.
A critical service provides basic human needs such as food supply, key public services, lifeline utilities, transport, critical financial services and social welfare, as well as those critical services needed to support animal welfare.
Abracadabra Cafe co-owner Shail Chourasia said he didn't think phase 2 would make a difference to the difficulties of the red and orange restrictions.
He said the cafe had to cut down its opening hours so the small team could be split into morning and afternoon shifts.
He said the "very sad" situation for business owners has continued since 2020 with small pockets of relief when there were no restrictions.
He said he was indifferent to the use of RATs and said he was "here to follow" orders from the Government to make sure his business survived.
Sequoia Eatery Rotorua manager Carrie Lau said the business would likely need to shut if a case came through as the team of eight could not fully separate.
However, it had been lucky to avoid this so far.
Lau said red restrictions would continue to be a strain on the business and all it could do now was make sure everyone followed safety protocols to keep themselves safe.
Rotorua Girls' High School principal Sarah Davis said phase 2 would help "streamline" some processes for the school - particularly with the shortening of isolation times.
She did not believe it would make much difference for the school and said it was most important they had quick access to information.
The school, which had one infected student, was being supported by the Ministry of Education.
Rotorua Chamber of Commerce chief executive Bryce Heard said phase 2 was "certainly heading in the right direction".
He said that direction was inevitable as the only other alternative appeared to be another lockdown, which would crush businesses.
Heard said some large businesses were setting up their own testing facilities and systems to run Covid-19 tests for their employees.
"Irrespective of anything else, they're just going ahead and doing it."
Hospitality New Zealand Bay of Plenty regional manager Melissa Renwick said hospitality operators needed certainty from the Government on a targeted support fund.
"It is a matter of days that businesses can keep trading. Without support, venues will close and people will be laid off."
She said Hospitality NZ has been working with Government officials on the impact of Omicron on the sector.
She said, anecdotally, most members would use the RATs as it provided a sense of reassurance.
"RATs should be made available to all, currently they are not and local businesses cannot access them easily."