Red Traffic Light

It appears that the omicron variant has arrived in New Zealand. Predictably, the government has rushed to shut everything down again. The new system of traffic lights has been invoked and the entire country will go to the Red setting from midnight tonight.

 

The Red setting isn’t as bad as the old Level 4 and Level 3 lockdowns, in fact it’s similar to the old Level 2. Gatherings are still allowed up to 100 people indoors or out, and work and transport still goes on, although office workers are encouraged to work from home. Mask wearing and scanning are compulsory, and most businesses have now set themselves up for vaccine passport scanning.

At Zealandia, tours still go ahead with a maximum of eight people per tour. I’ve been doing a lot of tours over the past few weeks as this is the busiest period for us, even with no international tourists – people from all around the country have been visiting Wellington during the school holidays and coming to Zealandia a lot. It is, after all, the number one paid attraction in the capital. I’ll continue to take tours as needed, and also continue with the volunteer Valley Guiding that I usually do at weekends.

What does this mean for sporting events? They’ll still go ahead behind closed doors, so our plans to watch the finals of the Super Smash T20 cricket tournament are in tatters. Also, the ICC Women’s World Cup of Cricket, due to start in a few weeks, is under threat. It all really depends on what happens over the coming weeks. Similarly, gigs will be cancelled or rescheduled (for the third time, for Ladyhawke) unless the settings are reduced in pretty short order.

Hopefully, a managed spread of the disease, without overwhelming the health system, will enable New Zealand to start treating it as endemic, rather than pandemic, some time soon. We are still planning to get to the Northern hemisphere around the middle of this year…watch this space.