Hawaii’s statewide mask mandate ends just before midnight tomorrow — and in a little more than a week, certain restrictions will be dropped in New Zealand. But that country is facing a much different situation when it comes to the pandemic.
Starting a week from Monday, some of the world’s strictest rules dealing with COVID-19 will be eased.
In New Zealand, masks will no longer be required outside and there will be no limits to the size of outdoor gatherings.
Proof of vaccination will no longer be needed to enter restaurants and other businesses — and they won’t be part of the qualifications for certain jobs.
Those working in health care, prisons and at the country’s borders will still need to be fully vaccinated. But those requirements will be dropped for most working in education, as well as for police, and those in the military.
The virus is still very much present. New Zealand reported more than 20,000 new COVID cases on Wednesday — and nearly 1,000 COVID patients in the hospital.
Radio New Zealand reports several hospitals in the Wellington area have absentee rates of about 15% among their nursing staffs.
The country’s director general of health says indigenous Māori have the highest rate of community spread cases of the virus — and their hospitalization numbers are still rising.
New Zealand was highly successful in fighting the virus in the early days of the pandemic, but has been hit hard by the Omicron variant, which modelers expect will peak nationwide within the next two weeks.
