The new COVID-19 Protection Framework

On the 22^nd October the Government revealed the COVID-19 Protection Framework encompassing a new traffic light approach to restrictions that will be introduced once 90% of eligible New Zealanders are protected. For the last few weeks the events industry has been seeking clarity around what it means for the sector. Vicki Cooksley, President of Entertainment Technology NZ (ETNZ) and colleagues have been busy, ‘ETNZ and other industry organisations have been actively involved in discussions with relevant government departments around what the introduction of the COVID-19 Protection Framework will mean to the sector.’’

Information publicly available stipulates that the ‘green light’ setting will be used during times when COVID-19 spread is isolated. Venues who make use of vaccination certificates will have no gathering limits, but those that choose not to will have a 100 person limit and require 1m physical distancing.

If “there is increasing community transmission that is putting pressure on our health system”, the ‘orange light’ setting comes into play. Venues can continue to open with no limits if vaccination certificates are used, but those choosing not to use vaccine certificates are no longer allowed to open.

Once “action is required to protect at-risk people and the health system”, we will move to the ‘red light’ setting. Events using vaccination certificates will be restricted to 100 people with 1m physical distancing. Boundary restrictions may also come into effect.

At each setting, mention is made of “specified outdoor community events” which follow much the same restrictions as venues using vaccination certificates, but without the vaccination certificate requirement. Although industry leaders have been seeking more information on this, to date there is no indication of what constitutes a specified outdoor community event.

To summarise, for the events industry, the green and orange light means that events can go ahead with appropriate measures such as record keeping, scanning and face coverings (encouraged at green, mandatory at orange). Although for events that rely on high numbers of out of area visitors, populated regions being in the red setting could potentially still have an impact on event viability. It is also worth noting that wider lockdowns are still included in the government’s weapons arsenal.

More information on the traffic light system is promised for end November, with an update on when and what regions will be moving to the traffic light system earmarked for November 29^th.

Vaccination Certificates

The traffic light system is reliant on a robust, easy to use, hard to de-fraud system for validating an individual’s vaccination status.

A new website ‘My COVID Record’ has been released where people over the age of 16 can access their vaccination records. From late November you will be able to access a digital vaccination certificate, currently referred to as ‘My Vaccine Pass’. This will include a QR code, which you can print or save to your phone, with options available for those without access to a smartphone. Those aged 12 to 15 need to request a letter from the Ministry of Health.

On Monday, the Ministry of Health released the specifications describing the data in the QR code, the technology that is used to encode it, and how the QR code is expected to be interpreted and processed. The Ministry’s intention is that businesses can start to investigate how best to embed the new vaccination requirement into their own systems and processes.

A free ‘Verifier App’ will be available on the App Store and Google Play for businesses to use to scan and verify the My Vaccine Pass. The contract to develop both was awarded to Spark subsidiary MATTR with the specifications and other documentation expected to be available for other organisations to adapt to suit their own requirements.

Venues

As well as converting into long term vaccination centres as was the case last week at Invercargill’s Civic Theatre, now sporting six vaccination booths, venues are working their way through a number of issues including the management of vaccine certificates, the implications of mandating of certificates for events and the impact on staff.

In preparation for the introduction of the COVID-19 Protection Framework new roles are being advertised such as front of house ‘greeters’ responsible for ensuring people scan or sign in, present proof of vaccination and abide by mask requirements.

Event Organisers & Promoters

And event organisers and promoters continue to battle a series of ‘What ifs’. Vicki describes the feeling across the sector as one of further uncertainty, “We don’t know when regions will move to the traffic light system so are left trying to plan events unsure if we are planning for alert levels or for the new COVID-19 protection framework, and as a consequence what additional measures will be required to ensure we operate safely.”

As a result many are postponing events in the hope of more clarity, as is the case for the Dunedin Craft Beer and Food Festival. In the words of Jason Schroeder, Festival Director, , “We believe that this decision will give us, as festival organisers, the space we need for the government’s Protection Framework to come into play, as well as provide some clarity on how the Vaccine Certificate will be mechanised and its impact on you, our loyal attendees. We know that under the COVID-19 Protection Framework, the event will be able to go ahead without any crowd number limits once we are at level ORANGE or GREEN. All attendees will be required to have been vaccinated and present a Vaccine Certificate to gain event entry at both levels. Therefore, we encourage all of those wishing to attend the event to get vaccinated”.

Others are hanging on, possibly by a thread. Rhythm and Vines is one such event with 20,000 plus people hoping to see the New Year in at the three day festival in Gisborne. Organisers are having to wait until the end of November to see if it all hinges on the Tairāwhiti District Health board hitting the 90 per cent fully vaccinated target set by Government as a precursor to the move to the traffic light system. Hamish Pinkham in a recent interview was keeping it positive, “We’ll be taking direction from the Government as it comes to us, like all promoters. We’re ready to go, tickets are sold, bands are booked, the venue is looking fantastic, we’re ready to get down there.”