A date for NSW’s ‘reopening day’ has been leaked to the Sydney Morning Herald, and it looks like it will happen mid-October.
A senior minister told the publication that the NSW government is working on a reopening plan that will see hairdressers and other one-on-one businesses reopened for fully vaccinated individuals on October 18.
This will be trialed on a small scale over the next few weeks, and will involve both parties being fully vaccinated. According to the SMH, the trial will “act as a litmus test” for other industries like hospitality, to see if they can also reopen with capacity limits for mid-October.
The announcement that hairdressers and beauty salons would reopen was expected to happen once the state reached 6 million jabs on Thursday. But instead NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian afforded residents a slightly different freedom.
From September 13, fully-vaccinated adults outside the 12 hotspot Sydney LGAs will be able to have gatherings outside for up to five people, including children.
“Five people will be able to gather outdoors, so long as the adults are vaccinated,” Berejiklian said.
“Obviously if it’s five adults – adults for this purpose is over 18 years of age – all of them will need to be vaccinated.
“So, it means that if you have friends or relatives within your LGA or within the 5km radius, you will be able to congregate together in an outdoor gathering of five, as opposed to just two from different households.”
As for those within the LGAs of concern, people are now allowed to spend one hour outside for recreation (which includes picnics within their household). Previously, those residents were only be allowed outside for one hour of exercise.
Of course, the quickest way to get more of these promised freedoms is for the state to hit that 70% / 80% vaccination target rate. Peep the graph below to see how we’re tracking.
This is GOOD, because it shows that the planned reopening day of October 18 is in line with the data. Amazing stuff!
All adult Aussies (yep, even if those of us under 40) are currently able to get the safe and effective AstraZeneca vaccine through a GP. Click here to see which clinics are offering it, and talk to a doctor to see if it’s right for you.
Alternatively, you can triple-check to see if you’re eligible for the Pfizer vaccine here.
The best vaccine is the first one you can get, and that’ll be our ticket out of this mess.
