News Auckland will move to Covid-19 alert level 3 step 2 at midnight Tuesday is a tale of stories for different businesses and facilities in the city.
File image. Photo: 123rf
Under step 2, retail can open with physical distancing and face coverings in place and cafes and foodcourts within malls can operate for takeaways only.
Public facilities like libraries, museums and zoos can open - but not swimming pools, despite them earlier having been on the list of facilities allowed to open under the restriction.
Former national swim coach and chief executive of SwimTastic Mark Bone told Checkpoint he didn't know why pools had been cut.
"We feel very bankrupt at this stage, but look the bottom line is the CDC, the world leading authority on infectious diseases and the World Health Organisation, have made it clear that swimming pools are very, very safe - chlorine doesn't make Covid active, so when you run a chlorinated pools Covid is not active and I think that our own Ministry of Health is ignoring that.
"But you know, the bizarre thing is, I'm looking at at the moment onto the website, sport and recreation Unite against Covid-19 and it says Auckland will move to level 3, step 2 from 11.59 Tuesday the ninth of November, facilities such as gyms, swimming pools and skate parks, can open.
"You know, constantly they're giving us false information, and there's no consistency and that's the frustration ... it's conflicting all the way."
Bone said if they opened, they would not want a large number of people in their facility.
"So what we would do is they would go through normal Ministry of Health guidelines - fully masked up - to come into the facility already in their swimsuits and all they would do is take that off, get to the pool and do their recreation."
Bone was "desperately concerned that suddenly when we open up Auckland, when we finally can get back out there, we're gonna rush off to the beaches and kids aren't going to be safe.
"Look, worldwide swim school association have put out statistics that formal swimming lessons can reduce the risk of drowning for children aged 1 - 4 by 88 percent. Now if you take that statistic alone, I'm frightened for what the summer is going to bring, particularly when we meant to be seeing a particularly hot summer...
"Hopefully as we step down the levels we just get more acceptance, particularly with this high vaccination rate that we are now getting in Auckland and in Waikato.
Indoor and outdoor pools should be treated differently, he said.
"The requirements in an outdoor pool should be a lot lower than what an indoor pool should be.
"Obviously an indoor pool there is more concern around, particularly in the changing rooms."
Glenfield Mall owner Dallas Pendergrast told Checkpoint she was "absolutely delighted" by the news.
"We've been a little worried with the numbers going up, but as it's happened ... I really don't think Auckland would have accepted any longer and we certainly wouldn't have been happy about it, that's for sure.
"We're expecting a big demand. We're really looking forward to all the pent up spending coming to fruition now.
"It's what we need for our people who have been locked up for so long and being deprived of making their living."
Pendergrast said the Glenfield mall had large public spaces which people would enter before going into individual shops, so "it will be a gentle, easy flow for people.
"We will ensure, of course, that social distancing takes place and masks are worn.
"The shops individually will monitor how many people go into them."
The mall had door counters and "a big contingency of security guards on duty. They are asked to just politely ask people to wear a mask, if they haven't got one then they will … offer them to people."
Pendergrast did not think the mall was "any different to say walking up Ponsonby Road".
"People will still socially distance as they've done during lockdown while we've had our essential services open. The same principles will apply."
She said it was "really a bit silly" that services like hairdressers, beauty salons and the like could not reopen.
But the mall had managed to keep all its tenants through the lockdown.
"We've given them assistance by way of rent relief and other support when they've needed it, and I'm very pleased to say that we're fully leased and all our shops will be open."
