Wagga businesses have welcomed the restoration of freedoms sooner under a revamped NSW COVID-19 reopening roadmap, but thousands of not fully vaccinated residents will face a longer restriction period.
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NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said on Tuesday that many of the restrictions that were due to end on December 1 will now end on Monday next week.
However, people who are not fully vaccinated will continued to be barred from non-essential retail, hospitality venues and events until NSW hits 95 per cent full vaccination or December 15, whichever comes first.
As of Sunday, 87.8 per cent of eligible residents within Wagga's local government area had received two vaccine shots, leaving more than 6300 eligible residents who are not partially or fully vaccinated.
The current mask rules, which will apply to everyone, will remain in place until December 15 or the 95 per cent vaccine milestone.
Business groups and retailers have welcomed some restrictions lifting early but raised concerns about the potential for mask rules and vaccination checks to continue longer into the Christmas shopping season.
Checking the vaccine status at non-essential retail stores and mandatory masks for shoppers were originally to end on December 1.
Cobbler rd owner Hayley Veitch said it was a good thing that restrictions were being lifted, but extending the mask rule would put a burden on businesses.
"It's going to be an interesting Christmas if we don't get our usual foot traffic," she said. "People have been out shopping and spending but just not as many people as normal.
"We'll keep our fingers crossed that NSW reaches 95 per cent as soon as possible."
From November 8 there will be no limit on visitors to homes and no rules for outdoor gatherings with fewer than 1000 people.
Stadiums, racecourses, cinemas and theatres will be able to use 100 per cent of their seated audience capacity and indoor activities and businesses will be subject to a one person per two square metres rule.
Nightclubs will be able to reopen their dance floors but gyms and dance classes will still face caps on the numbers of participants.
Mr Perrottet said the roadmap was brought forward due to the the state's high vaccination rate and the roll out of booster shots.
"Everybody has done an incredible job to ensure NSW can ease restrictions in a safe and considered way earlier than we planned," Mr Perrottet said.
"We are on track to reach 90 per cent double vaccination weeks ahead of schedule and this is a testament to everybody across NSW and especially our health workers."
The roadmap announcement came us the Murrumbidgee Local Health District confirmed two new COVID-19 cases in Wagga as part of 25 new cases detected in the region in the 24 hours to 8pm on Monday.
Fifteen of the new cases were residents of the Albury local government area, and the Murray River LGA has recorded another six on top of Monday's eight.
Wagga's new two cases brings its tally of the outbreak to 14, the majority of which have emerged in the city in the last week.
In other news
Federal government data showed that 2552 people in Wagga received unemployment payments during September this year, which was about 400 more than in September 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic.
Business NSW Murray-Riverina regional manager Anthony McFarlane said "fast-tracking" of the reopening roadmap was always welcome.
"What we have seen throughout this pandemic is when restrictions are lifted, businesses can get on with what they do best," he said.
Mr McFarlane said the mask and vaccine checking rules would "continue to burden" businesses but they had already been required to come up with the infrastructure to enforce those rules. "The overall changes are going to help businesses welcome back more customers and having that extra customer capacity during the busy summer season will be welcome," he said.
Mr McFarlane called for greater certainty and clarity around the safety rules, and the definitions of close and casual exposure sites, as NSW transitioned from suppressing COVID-19 to living with the virus.
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