Editorial: Sports crowds revel in new 'normal' while Omicron outbreak continues

Masks are a very useful piece of protective equipment in the new normal. Photo / Getty Images

EDITORIAL

The sight of excited crowds adding atmosphere at the country's sports stadiums during weekend games seemed like a blast from the past.

That's the past when closed borders kept Covid-19 and its variants out of the community, and the past from early 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic first struck.

When TV cameras panned across the spectators, masks seemed in short supply, with only the occasional one spotted here and there.

In one sense, it's good for people to feel they can get out and enjoy weekend matches, with outdoor air around them to reduce the risk.

But with crowds that size, it's not risk-free and will they take the same carefree attitude into indoor settings where the chance of infection is greater?

While Cabinet's decision yesterday to keep the country at the red traffic light setting for at least another 10 days left hospitality businesses "gutted", some restrictions have been eased.

Vaccine passes are now optional and mandates limited to the health and disability, aged care, Corrections and border workforce sectors.

Indoor capacity limits under red light settings increased from 100 to 200. Seeing sporting crowds at the weekend was a new expression of "normality" while the Omicron outbreak continues, and the country gradually reopens.

But, as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern warned yesterday, New Zealand is still in a precarious position as these changes are occurring.

The Omicron peak is over but the case numbers involved are still high. Hospitalisation rates are gradually improving. New Zealand has just been through its deadliest period of the pandemic with more than 100 people dying in a week. A new variant could emerge here before people know about it and they have been evolving to be more transmissible.

A setback is possible in such a situation.

The pandemic has been a long and difficult slog that everyone has tired of. Most people have received at least two vaccine shots. They know to stay home if they get sick.

There's a middle way for people to approach the new normal — between acting as though the virus isn't there or not getting out much at all.

That middle way would involve going to see live sport in an outdoor crowd, with the extra protection of a good-quality mask. Yes, there's air around you but there's also a lot of yelling, excited, potentially infected people close by.

Omicron is far more transmissible than earlier Covid-19 variants. Wearing a mask is a minor inconvenience to avoid infection.

The middle way also means choosing a place when eating out with outdoor seating and good table spacing, leaving your mask on when dealing with staff, and then taking it off to eat or drink.

The more that most people revert to the normality they'd prefer, the more others prepared to adapt will have to think about their own choices.