Waikato's move to alert level 2 at midnight will mean hospitality venues and schools can finally reopen after six weeks, but with extra safety measures.
Ōtorohanga town centre (file). Mayor Max Baxter welcomed the alert level move but said with 36 active cases in the community people needed to follow health rules. Photo: RNZ/ Dan Cook
People in the region are welcoming the coming freedoms but acknowledge that there needs to be caution.
Hamilton Mr Pickles Bar and Eatery director Matthew Pedley had opened a new business eight days before the latest lockdown, and was looking forward to reopening.
"It's amazing. I think it's great for businesses here in Waikato, in hospitality particularly. They've been really crying out for a while for some support so it should come at a much-needed time," he said.
Pedley trusted people to be careful about health rules - but said alcohol could make them hard to deal with.
"We're going to have to police it to abide by the government's expectations and I think that's going to be really tough. You know, once people have had a couple of drinks that they change a little bit."
Hamilton Mayor Paula Southgate said the move was good news but was mindful it could be temporary.
She reminded people to keep their masks on, maintain social distancing and scan wherever they go.
"There's a lot of common sense things that can prevail at this time just to keep those numbers low, because if they start to climb again, the government may well come in and take this new-found freedom from us," Southgate said.
Seven new cases were reported in the region yesterday, including three in Ōtorohanga, two in Hamilton, one in Kāwhia and one in Huntly, bringing the total number of cases in this Waikato outbreak to 240.
Of the total cases, 113 are active and 127 recovered.
Allan Sanson Photo: RNZ / Andrew McRae
Waikato District Mayor Allan Sanson said the alert level move came as a happy surprise.
He was looking forward to dining out with his wife, and to people being out and about supporting businesses.
"I'm still concerned about the cases we're getting, but at the end of the day, as I've said to Wellington for the last two weeks, I feel they are manageable. They haven't got any worse. They're pretty consistent.
"As I said, they are basically all connected to the same group of people."
Raglan ward councillor Lisa Thomson, who is also on the Raglan Business Chamber Board, was overjoyed at the level 2 move.
"To be honest, most of us were thinking we would probably be still at level 3 step 2 for a little bit longer, so we were really surprised.
"Lots of celebrations and looking forward to being open for business on Wednesday."
Thomson is a Board of Trustees member for Raglan Area School and said they were excited to welcome students back.
Ōtorohanga Mayor Max Baxter welcomed the alert level move but said it would come as a challenge, with 36 active cases in his district among the population of 10,000.
"We are going to be exposed, so there's going to be a real test of the character of our community," he said.
Baxter said vaccination rates in Ōtorohanga were still low - 80 percent of the eligible population had had a first dose, 68 percent the second.
More cases were likely to emerge and people needed to strictly follow health rules, he said.
"We obviously have the ability to go about our business, but we've got to be very, very careful now because this could have major ramifications on our community."
Vaccination rates for the Waikato region sat at 88.8 percent of the of the eligible population for a first dose and 78.5 percent for the second dose.
