Inter-regional travel may be allowed at COVID-19 Alert Level 3 but Gisborne District Council Emergency Coordination Centre group controller Dave Wilson is reminding people there are still strict rules to be followed.

Government guidelines say people can move but only once, and in one direction.

“We know whanau are planning to move home from out of region where they have lost their jobs. This is where they belong.”

He is encouraging people to go to www.COVID19.govt.nz to familiarise themselves with those guidelines.

“Everyone needs to understand the rules around Level 3 and that big risks still remain,” said Mr Wilson. “The nation’s COVID clusters all broke out at Level 2, so this is no time for complacency – we are aware of the stress people are under, but the risk is most certainly still there and we all need to manage that responsibility. Tairāwhiti has done incredibly well to keep the number of cases so low, and we now have no active cases in the region. Let’s keep it that way.”

Inter-regional travel is allowed if you are an essential worker, going to work or school, travelling for medical or compassionate reasons, living with a shared bubble arrangement, relocating a home or business, returning home, a foreign national leaving the country or a Kiwi returning home after 14 days’ isolation or quarantine.

But the key is for people to keep as local as they can.

At Alert Level 3 – which started on Tuesday (April 28) – people still need to stay in their household bubbles when not at work, school, buying groceries or exercising. Bubbles can be expanded to reconnect with close family and whānau, to bring in caregivers or to support isolated people. “Keep those bubbles exclusive and let’s continue to halt the movement of the virus.”

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