NSW will take its first steps towards reopening as the State passes the 70 per cent double vaccination target.
With the first vaccination milestone being reached, the NSW Government is also easing a number of restrictions as part of the Reopening NSW roadmap, which will allow fully vaccinated adults to enjoy more freedoms from next Monday, October 11.
The changes to the 70 per cent roadmap from 11 October include:
• Up to 10 fully vaccinated visitors (not counting children 12 and under) to a home (previously five)
• Up to 30 fully vaccinated people will be able to attend outdoor gatherings (previously 20)
• Increasing the cap for weddings and funerals to 100 people (previously 50).
• Indoor pools will also be re-opened for swimming lessons, squad training, lap swimming, and rehab activities
On the Monday after the State clears the 80 per cent double vaccination hurdle further restrictions will be relaxed:
• Up to 20 visitors (excluding children 12 and under) to a home (previously 10)
• Up to 50 people will be allowed to gather outdoors (previously 20)
• Up to 3,000 people will be allowed to attend controlled and ticketed outdoor events (previously 500)
• Nightclubs will be permitted to reopen for seated drinking only (no dancing), and masks will no longer be required in office buildings
All roadmap freedoms at 70 and 80 per cent will continue to be for fully vaccinated people only.
All school students will also now return to on site learning with a range of COVID-safe measures in place by October 25, with the second and third stages of the return to school plan now combined. Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 12 students will still return to face-to-face learning on October 18, with all other years now returning one week later on October 25.
Workers in regional areas who have received one vaccination dose will be permitted to return to their workplace from October 11 and will be given a grace period until November 1 to receive their second dose. Regional areas are those outside Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Wollongong, Shellharbour and the Central Coast.
If you are not booked in for a COVID-19 vaccine, please book an appointment as soon possible: https://www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/vaccination/get-vaccinated.
Note also that as the stay-at-home orders will be lifted next Monday and replaced by the roadmap settings, the list of Local Government Areas of concern will cease to exist.
Above: Not all are in agreement with the early opening: Rural General surgeon Professor Martin Jones has tweeted "joy of opening this state needs to be tempered by the 1000's of people who will need to attend funerals over the next 6 months for those killed by this virus."
