Although Level 3 restrictions mean northwestern Waikato is ostensibly under the same restrictions as Auckland, its boundary fence is a considerably smaller hurdle for would-be escapees
The news on Sunday afternoon that Covid had once again escaped the confines of Auckland was met with swift action by the Government, which laid down Level 3 restrictions on a large area of northwestern Waikato within the day.
For some, the walls came down with little warning. Although Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern mentioned a few of the boundary points of the area that covers Raglan, Hamilton and areas north of there, some Waikato residents were surprised to learn that they were also invited to the party.
Trudi Gray lives in Eureka, a small settlement roughly halfway between Hamilton and the PM’s own hometown, Morrinsville. She learned at around midnight on Sunday that Eureka was indeed part of the alert level change.
“The story given by Dr Bloomfield [on Sunday] concerned Waikato north to Te Kauwhata and west to Raglan,” Gray said. “No mention of east and south of Hamilton.”
While it is a major inconvenience, Gray said she understood the need for the restrictions - but said there had been a problem with getting the message across.
“It’s not so much the extension to the Level 3 area so much as the lack of publicity,” she said. “I told my neighbour who had intended going to Morrinsville to post a parcel, that he would have to do it in Hamilton – closer to the potential source.”
Meanwhile, Rob McGuire of the Waikato District Council said all council wards being included in the area was only confirmed at around 9.30pm on Sunday - just a matter of hours before the alert level boundary came into place.
But even at the boundary itself, one could be forgiven for not noticing the new restrictions at all.
Unlike the southern boundaries of Northland or Auckland, where a handful of checkpoints are staffed at all times, the borders of northwestern Waikato will be controlled mainly by spot checks and random police patrols.
“There is no hard boundary to the south and east of the area and police will be conducting random spots checks and patrols to ensure compliance,” a police spokesperson said.
This is down to simple geography - Northland and Auckland’s boundaries are somewhat serendipitously located on the country’s tightest isthmuses, meaning all travel can be easily enough directed into a small amount of chokepoints.
With a border that cuts south around Hamilton and north across the wide open plains of the northern Waikato region, it’s not so easy.
“For these new Hamilton areas, there will be spot checks around these boundary areas, but it will not be the same as the hard boundary we’ve been operating for the Auckland outbreak,” Ardern said on Sunday as she announced the area’s new restrictions. “The reason for that is simply a practical one. The Hamilton area simply has too many feeder roads for us to successfully operate a hard boundary around the outskirts of the area.”
In place of catch-call checkpoints that require every traveller to show proof of travel exemption, the strategy here is to ask Hamiltonians to play nice.
“So we ask people - please - to maintain compliance,” Arden said.
Despite the lack of a ‘hard boundary’, Police said travel will still be controlled and limited.
“Travel into and out of the area is limited to permitted reasons only and anyone travelling should expect to be stopped at any time either by a mobile patrol or at a pop-up checkpoint,” a spokesperson said. “Motorists are asked to carry evidence of their purpose of travel and be prepared to explain their movements. Anyone unable to provide evidence of permitted movement may be turned around and may face prosecution for breaching Covid-19 regulations.”
With support by aviation security, Police will also conduct spot checks at Hamilton Airport.
Travel out of the Level 3 area into the ongoing Level 2 of the rest of New Zealand will be allowed only for people who work in permitted businesses and services and people who can prove they have a good reason to travel.
None of these people will need to provide evidence of a negative test.
With the restrictions expected to last until Friday, testing centres across the area have been busy, according to the Waikato DHB. More than 600 tests were taken across testing centres in Hamilton and 150 at the pop-up testing site in Raglan on Sunday. Meanwhile, another pop-up testing site appeared in Huntly on Monday afternoon - where Level 3 restrictions also come into play despite there being no cases in the town.
Although the cases only appeared in Raglan and Hamilton East, large swathes of the region between Hamilton and the southern boundary of the Auckland region were bundled into the area.
Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield explained it was important to consider the close relationship between the workforce and essential service access of towns between Auckland and Hamilton.
“That’s the rationale for Te Kauwhata, Huntly, and Ngāruawāhia, because you’ve got that transit path between Auckland and Hamilton,” he said. “Otherwise, you’d have situation where you’d have… this piece in the middle, which in our mind didn’t make sense.”
He also suggested he expected the local community would have moved themselves into a de facto Level 3 regardless of whether they were included in the area.
