The confusion over how Parliament should operate with Wellington in Level 2 highlights the difficulty of a boundary between Level 4 and Level 2, Marc Daalder writes
Analysis: The Level 4 boundaries in New Zealand are pretty simple.
There's one north of Auckland, one south of Auckland, and one that runs down Bowen Street in Wellington, turns left onto Lambton Quay and ultimately loops back around to encompass the parliamentary precinct.
Despite the fact that the capital - and most of the country - is now in Level 2, Parliament is still operating as it did under Level 4 conditions. Speaker Trevor Mallard says that's a result of MPs like Judith Collins travelling from Auckland.
This means the number of MPs in the House is severely curtailed, masks are required everywhere on the precinct and venues like the Copperfield's Cafe are still closed.
These rules will remain in place until 14 days after the arrival date of Collins, Mallard told Newsroom.
"I'm working on the basis that people bring their levels with them. Certainly as far as the House is concerned, that means it will be at Level 4," he said.
"Obviously, we'll be able to drop down - it's a recess next week - so we'll be able to drop down the following week. Depending on what happens in Auckland and whether anybody else travels."
Bringing one's level with them when crossing a regional boundary has been common practice and is still encouraged, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said on Wednesday. But the policy at Parliament extends beyond requiring Collins to act as if she's still in a Level 4 area. Instead, their levels have been applied to everyone else on the precinct, including those who have been in Wellington since the start of the lockdown.
Mallard said Bloomfield had provided advice on how to run Parliament at the higher alert levels, but that this latest twist was based on his own interpretation of the rules - not the first time he's presented his own take on the health advice.
And Bloomfield himself seems to be under the impression Parliament was operating at Level 2. Clearly he hadn't expected the precinct to continue operating as if it were in Auckland.
The confusion is understandable, when two-thirds of the country are in an alert level where indoor dining is permitted and the remainder aren't legally allowed to leave their homes for much more than groceries or exercise.
Collins wouldn't be drawn on the issue when questioned by Newsroom, saying the rules were up to Mallard. And given there will likely be only two sitting days with this odd separation between Parliament and the cafes across the street, few seem too fussed.
The focus in Parliament has instead been on the vaccine rollout and the diminishing outbreak in Auckland. More than four million doses of the Pfizer vaccine have now been administered with more than half of the population having received at least one dose.
All eyes will be on Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Thursday as she prepares to announce a deal with at least two other countries to get more Pfizer supply into the country rapidly. For weeks, we have been vaccinating at a faster rate than we have been importing doses and the stocks are running low. The Government is hoping to negotiate a swap, with other countries sending us their Pfizer doses due for delivery in September while we let them take the supply we were supposed to get in October.
Alongside the rollout, the House focused on hiccups in the outbreak management in Auckland, such as the Covid-19 case who was placed for several hours in a room in Middlemore Hospital with three people who were not cases.
While that was a worrying sign, the news out of Auckland on Wednesday - just 15 new cases reported, down from three straight days of around 20 cases - was more hopeful. Just a handful of each day's new cases were infectious while in the community and just one or two are not linked to the main cluster.
That's a precipitous fall from 83 new cases reported just a week-and-a-half ago. Most new cases these days are household contacts of other cases and the pool of uninfected household contacts is rapidly running out.
Those are all good signs for Auckland's ability to move to Level 3 in the near future. The next reevaluation of the supercity's alert levels is due on Monday.
