New Zealand is preparing to open shops and businesses with the staggered move into Covid-19 alert level 2 on Thursday.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson talks to Lisa Owen about the details.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson speaks to media during a Covid-19 update conference at Parliament on May 08, 2020. Photo: Pool / Hagen Hopkins / Getty Images
Schools will be back from next week under level 2, what will it look like? Will different year levels go on different days?
Robertson: The Ministry of Education is working together with schools on how they will go about creating classroom-type bubbles, including the use of playgrounds.
The changes announced today don't affect the arrangements that they've been working on.
Bars and restaurants have different re-opening days - for restaurants it's this week Thursday, for bars it's next Thursday. What will be the penalty for bars who buck the rules?
Where issues like that have been encountered over the past few weeks, they've been shut down. It's the government's intention that the enforcement will continue to be that.
The new rules for level 2 for hospitality were created in line with the industry and most operators would be familiar with them because they're similar to Anzac and Easter trading rules.
What we're trying to avoid is a situation like the one that's being reported in South Korea, where they reopened bars and the virus spread again. The three Ss (seated, separated, and single server) will help mitigate that risk, and we've given ourselves an extra week for pubs to be able to educate themselves on the new rules and put measures in place.
What would you say to bar owners who may be confused?
The rules have been created with the hospitality association. They are based on rules of trading over Anzac Day or Easter, and should be familiar to operators.
I would encourage people in that situation to hang on. I know they are desperate to get back to trading. The Budget will continue to provide support for businesses and households.
How is it that we can play rugby at close quarters but you can't sit next people at bars?
It's all about controlled and uncontrolled environments.
Most will not be starting up community-level sports in the next two weeks anyway, because they want to get the clubs in the right place.
When it comes to professional sports, they're being treated like workplaces and WorkSafe has even been involved with them to make sure they're organised. Professional sports are in a position where they can monitor and manage who's there, what they're doing, and how they're acting.
Netabll NZ and NZ Rugby have had weeks worth of work on creating safe environments, just like on worksites where there are more than 10 people.
How will crowds or gatherings be enforced to ensure it's not more than 10 people?
The same way in previous levels. As we move into situation with more freedom, there will be more responsibility on people to enforce the rules.
People want to lock in the gains that have been made in lockdown, and police will also continue their enforcement but don't expect them to be knocking on everyone's door. They will, however, step in for rule breakers.
There will be the odd person who breaks the rules, but most people have done an incredible job of sticking to rules and have had to make huge sacrifices.
Some of our social activities are still limited to make sure we are getting on top of this virus once and for all... these rules are very similar to Australia, they're only allowing 10 people together as well as they move forward.
What does modelling say on the demand for health services with consideration to the backlog of surgeries and such in DHBs?
While there's no specific modelling, it's expected there will be increased demand.
We have been encouraging people who feel unwell to go into medical facilities. DHBs had to suspend surgeries and they are working to clear that backlog.
However, it will be a considerable amount of time, it could take months but there is no specific date. There are already scheduled surgeries - for now, what will be required is how we can increase some capacity to ensure more surgeries can be done to clear up that backlog.
The PM mentioned in her conference today the low level of the reproduction rate of virus (how many it spreads to) in the country. At what level would we have to be in order for restrictions to go back up again?
It's a mix of factors that help decide whether we're coming down or going up levels.
It's not the fact that we might get a particular number of cases even, it's more so the nature of cases and how they spread.
Being under one (for the reproduction rate) is the standard everyone wants. One of the reasons that Cabinet is working very hard at each of these decisions is to weigh up a range of health factors, like community transmission, number of cases, ability of health system to cope and now also social and economic factors.
A reproduction rate of 0.4 is a good level, when you look around the world it's 2.5 in some countries, so we've got to keep it down there.
Documents relating to Covid-19 released last week showed initial advice to the government in March noted international findings were that for every case discovered, nine others could be missing. Is that a worry?
There's been a lot of evolution in the science since then. That number is from early exponential growth modelling, we would have to go back and see the updated number of that.
Having said that, the idea of silent transmission is one of the things that concerns epidemiologists and one of the reasons that we have this approach of stepping out of levels slowly.
Will the wage subsidy scheme be extended? What can New Zealanders expect in terms of support with the economy opening up again?
We've already put a significant amount of money into the hands of New Zealanders with the wage subsidy scheme and other supports in place. As we open up the economy, it gives more businesses the chance to stand on their feet and be able to trade, but we're aware that even under level 2, for some it will still be a far cry from normality.
I'm certainly clear there will be more support in the Budget to help businesses and households get through.
