Samantha Motion: Rotorua MIQ's short hello and long goodbye

OPINION

The process of ending Managed Isolation and Quarantine seems as long and drawn out as its inception in this region was sudden.

But as several Bay business owners have put it: at least now there's a plan.

The border will reopen in five phases between February 27 and October, with the MIQ system gradually winding up for all but unvaccinated travellers.

MIQ came to - or rather, was dropped on - Rotorua one weekend in June 2020, three months after the first Auckland facilities opened.

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A handful of local leaders were notified of the decision to take over two hotels - the Ibis and Sudima - on a Friday and the buses started arriving on Saturday night, "under the cover of darkness" as a furious Rotorua MP Todd McClay put it.

Even some of the passengers were surprised when told of their destination by the bus driver. "Disbelief" was the reaction of one who had expected to hole up in Auckland.

The initial reaction from the city's public was not particularly welcoming.

"We have no choice in this." "We don't want Covid-19 quarantine in Rotorua, thank you." "Outrageous."

It set the scene for a tense relationship between the city known for manaakitanga (hospitality) and the system foisted on it.

A lone cyclist passes the Rydges MIQ facility on Fenton St in Rotorua during the August 2021 lockdown. Photo / Andrew Warner

A third MIQ hotel, Rydges, came the following month, but when news got out last year the Government was in discussions about a fourth, the city recoiled and served back a resounding no.

Some viewed it as a cold reaction given the many Kiwis stuck overseas and unable to land a space in MIQ that would allow them to come home. And the Government contracts were no doubt a lifeline for the guest-strapped accommodation facilities.

But fears of increased risk of an outbreak threatening Rotorua's most vulnerable, as well as the impact on medical services already stretched by servicing three MIQs, were genuinely held.

There have been nice MIQ moments, too.

Returnee Finian Scott ran a marathon in the Rydges courtyard - 300 laps.

Journalist Lloyd Burr made a model of the Skytower from meal packaging and care packet cardboard he collected while isolating in the same hotel. The impressive 2.3m structure became TradeMe's most popular auction in the Bay of Plenty over lockdown.

But now, even the most Covid-cautious among us must see that it's time to start wrapping up MIQ.

While there is a plan and dates for the border reopening, the future of Rotorua's three MIQ hotels is still being developed.

But it is reasonable to assume that, some time over the next nine months, the fences will come down.

Would Rotorua miss MIQ? Probably not.

But the city will know it did its bit to help keep Kiwis safe.