The requirement to have a Covid-19 vaccine pass to visit some venues, such as restaurants and salons, will be dropped from midnight.
(File image) Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
From midnight tonight, vaccine pass mandates will be scrapped for hospitality and close-proximity businesses, but some can still require them if they choose to.
Soul Bar & Bistro commercial and events manager Olivia Carter said the Auckland eatery would no longer have to roster on extra staff to double-check that every patron was fully vaccinated.
"It's quite a big cost to the business and while I think the mandates had a time and place, it's good that it's something that is now not involved and we can focus on welcoming people and getting them to seats to have food and drink, as really, that's what everybody's coming out and trying to do and support us in that way."
While QR scan-ins for locations of interest has stopped, the government has urged businesses to be ready to stand up QR codes again, in case new Covid-19 variants rip across the country and contact tracing has to restart.
For now, Maura Rigby, who co-owns Beach Babylon, Little Beer Quarter and Nolita in Wellington, hoped scrapping vaccine passes would encourage more people to head out to support their local cafe or eatery.
"We're hoping that it'll give people a bit more confidence since, as the government has been signalling recently, hospitality isn't as risky as what was originally presented, and that it is now safe to go out without vaccine passes.
"We're hoping that it gives people more confidence to go out."
At Auckland's Crave Cafe in Morningside, general manager Nigel Cottle felt like things were looking up.
"We had 12 staff off with Covid two weeks ago, but now we've got none, so it's like even our staff are out on the other side.
"It really does feel like we're coming out of the murky fog and into the new bright future."
From midnight tonight, vaccine mandates will also be scrapped for everyone except those working in the health and disability sector, aged care facilities, Corrections staff and border and MIQ workers.
Customers no longer need to scan a QR code when they enter a restaurant, business or cafe and businesses no longer have to display the codes. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Business New Zealand chief executive Kirk Hope said restaurants and other businesses should do a risk-assessment before deciding which way to go on vaccine passes.
"If you've got a situation where your employees are engaging with vulnerable populations or in a high-risk area which is exposed to a lot of Covid potentially, then you probably will be able to retain the mandate for those roles," he said.
Cabinet ministers will review the traffic light settings today, but for now, the country is still at red.
That means face masks still need to be worn in most indoor settings - even if you did not have to show your vaccine pass at the door.
Olivia Carter from Soul Bar and Bistro asked people for understanding.
"Businesses are having to do this because that's part of the mandate," she said.
"It would be great for people to remember that they need to take into consideration the staff that are working there.
"We're also sick of telling you to put your mask on 10 times while you're in there. We don't want to do it either, but it's still part of the mandate."
Matt McLaughlin, who owns a number of bars in Wellington, told Morning Report on the one hand it was good for the sector to be able to return to some normality but he was nervous about losing the older customers who may hesitate to go to close-setting places without vaccine pass requirements.
"Although it is a good step forward, we need to be given a lot more I think."
It was time-consuming to be checking vaccine passes, but to have to remind a customer to put their mask back on would not require an extra staff member, McLaughlin said.
The use of masks to prevent transmission was working, he said.
"I've had staff that have had Covid, had Covid when they were on shifts and I was working them or we were working with them and I haven't contracted it yet and didn't."
He said they would love to get more support from the government, but he did not have any hope for it to actually happen.
"Our hospitality venues are safe to come into" - Bar owner Matt McLaughlin
Not all unvaccinated teachers will return
Secondary Principals' Association president Vaughan Couillault told Morning Report teachers who were not vaccinated wouldn't automatically get their jobs back
Hundreds of secondary school staff did not meet vaccine mandate requirements
Couillault says somewhere between 500 and 1000 people will have been impacted.
Some took extended leave while others resigned, he said.
"If people have resigned or people have been terminated, those jobs will have been filled and so it isn't just a matter of flicking a switch and returning to where we were last year. It's a little bit more complicated then that."
He said those on extended leave would return at different stages depending on their situation and whether someone was covering their role.
Some will need to find a new job, he said.
"The fact that mandates are ending tonight doesn't necessarily mean there are a whole lot of people turning up on your doorstep tomorrow morning."
"It isn't just a matter of flicking a switch and returning to where we were last year" - Secondary Principals' Association president Vaughan Couillault