Just a few short months ago, Australia’s vaccination rollout was an international embarrassment, but thanks to a gruelling lockdown, fast-tracked supplies and eleventh-hour purchases of surplus stock from overseas, the Land Down Under is now on pace to become one of the most vaccinated places on the planet. Leading the Aussie campaign to be more fully vaccinated than anywhere in the world is NSW, which now has more than three-quarters of its adult population fully inoculated. In fact, NSW’s second dose rates are so showboatingly high, the state is set to smash its 80 per cent vaccination target ahead of schedule. This could mean the next phase of the reopening plan could be triggered by Monday, October 18, just one week after the 70 per cent rules kicked in and a full week sooner than the October 25 date previously cited as the beginning of phase two of the roadmap.
So what additional freedoms will that give to fully vaccinated people? If the state’s new premier sticks to the currently outlined plans (although Dominic Perrottet has been playing fast and loose with the agreed reopening strategy since taking office), this will allow free movement statewide for recreation and holidays, and caravan parks and campsites will be allowed to welcome back guests from Greater Sydney. Nightclubs will reopen, community sport, will recommence and schools will resume IRL lessons. All businesses will be allowed to adjust their capacities as per the two-square-meter rule, and get ready to live your best Corey Worthington Facebook rager fantasy, because private gatherings will be allowed up to 20 guests indoors and 50 outdoors.
Entertainment venues and sports arenas will be allowed to have up to 3,000 attendees to a ticketed event, although special exemptions will be granted on a venue-by-venue basis that would allow certain events to have substantially higher numbers of attendees.
The recommendation for employers to allow their staff to work from home if possible will remain in place, but for those who do return to the office, masks will no longer be required indoors.
As was to be expected, first dose rates are beginning to plateau, although NSW has already achieved first dose rates far higher than the majority of the world, with just under 91 per cent of adults now partially vaccinated.