Opening the Borders
Wednesday was the long awaited “here’s how the international borders are going to open up” plan was announced. For many people, it feels like Christmas. The Beehive press release goes into the details, but the most pertinent information for the bulk of people who read this blog are:
Travel for fully vaccinated Kiwis (citizens and residents) to and from Australia without MIQ will be MIQ free on January 16, 2022.
Travel for fully vaccinated Kiwis (citizens and residents) to and from the rest of the world with the exception of very high risk countries will be MIQ free on February 13, 2022.
Travel for fully vaccinated individuals will start on April 30, 2002 in a to-be-determined staged fashion.
People who don’t have to go through MIQ will still be subject to a number of requirements, like pre-departure testing, vaccine proof, a day 0/1 test, and most importantly to note - a requirement to self isolate for seven days and a final negative test before entering the community. (Side note with a huge eye roll - we all know how well the last attempt to get travellers to self isolate went. It will be curious to see what they do differently this time.)
In other words - if you’re a fully vaccinated Kiwi somewhere in the world, it’s probably ok to book your tickets. However, if you’re a visitor or someone with a non-resident class visa, don’t get a nonrefundable ticket just yet. If you are unvaccinated, you’ll still need to go through the MIQ process which is currently seven days in a facility, then three days in home isolation.
So here’s my take. I’m glad they’re opening the border because it makes absolutely no sense to keep the border closed when there is covid out unchecked in the community. I know there are a lot of businesses that are desperate for this, and hopefully it will be a pressure release valve for people who are feeling claustrophobic.
However, I’m skeptical of anyone voluntarily self isolating for seven days upon arrival, especially when they start letting tourists in. How many tourists are really going to spend a week in an AirBnb or hotel somewhere without leaving? I’m also wary of this TBD staged plan to open to non-residents. I feel like there have been a number of bait-and-switch parts to the government’s covid plan that make me unsure of when and how this will actually happen. There are also questions about how this affects people who aren’t able to be vaccinated yet, namely kids. If a family is travelling with kids too young to be vaccinated, are they going to be required to get an MIQ spot even if the parents are vaccinated?
Overall, this is good news, but there are still a lot of questions. And of course things could be completely different when this is supposed to open up in January, February, and April. If there’s one constant with covid, it is that things are never the same for long. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the Auckland border opening on December 15 doesn’t cause big problems for New Zealand.
