"If we have to go to level 4 for another week and another week then what we're doing is the worst of all worlds. That is still at least two months away in the best case scenario, and we can't go with Auckland at level 4 or even conventional level 3 through that. "It may be worth saving the rest of the country while keeping Auckland at a level of restriction that allows businesses in Auckland to do business while we wait for vaccination rates to be high enough. He said switching to a strategy of suppression in Auckland, with a hard border to prevent the virus spreading to other regions, could be an alternative. "I can tell you when the Takapuna Business Association says we're 96 percent down that's when you get huge trouble, it's causing mental health trouble, it's causing financial trouble. "But every piece of evidence is that it's not working and if that's the case then we need to start looking at other options. He said he hoped he was wrong and level 4 would work. "If we can't get this outbreak under control with four weeks of level four are we certain it'll be under control after five? And if we can't get it under control after five weeks are we gonna go to six? People will go broke in the meantime." "There has to be an interim strategy while we wait for vaccination levels to be high enough that allows businesses to keep operating sustainably. We now need to consider what a new strategy would look like," he said. "There may not be easy answers but clearly we've had a strategy that has worked somewhat, and has run out of runway.
With confirmation of 33 new cases today, ACT leader David Seymour said the government needed to consider what kind of strategy would be financially sustainable for businesses, and how long the current strategy could be continued before high vaccination rates meant lockdowns were no longer needed. New community cases spiked over the weekend from 11 on Friday to 23 on Saturday and 20 yesterday. Act leader David Seymour Photo: RNZ / Rob DixonĬabinet decided this afternoon to keep Auckland in level 4 for at least one more week, and the rest of New Zealand to remain in level 2.