A move to Phase 3 of the Government’s Omicron response would be good news for the hospitality industry, as it will allow
staff to keep working, and customers enjoy getting out.
Hospitality NZ CEO Julie White says pressure is on for the shift, as the definition of a close contact and a week-long
isolation period is keeping mounting numbers of staff and customers unnecessarily at home.
“The rules are having a devastating multiplier effect, turning the thousands of people with Covid into tens of thousands
of well or asymptomatic people stuck at home.
“The rules are unsustainable with rapid spread of Omicron because they are making up to 100% of staff ineligible to work
and exacerbating already low numbers of staff.”
The sector had very recently been allowed to work out its own definitions of close contacts on a case by case basis.
Julie White says while a Phase shift is welcome, it is only one of the tools for recovery. Another tool is financial
support to get through the Omicron wave, and the narrow eligibility of the package announced on Monday still needs to be
fixed.
“After our urgent objections, we are now cautiously optimistic that the Government did not intend to restrict the
eligibility so tightly and will fix it by the time applications open this Monday,” she says.