Appendix 2: Lockdown decisions and criteria for changing Alert Levels

Main Report

Download report 16 MB

Appendix 2: Lockdown decisions and criteria for changing alert levels | Āpitihanga 2: Ngā whakatau rāhui me ngā paearu mō te whakarerekē i ngā taumata whakaoho

2.1 Chronology of key lockdown decisions by region | Te rārangi wā o ngā whakatau rāhui matua ā-rohe

2.1.1 Auckland lockdown | Te rāhui o Tāmaki Makaurau

From 17 August 2021, a series of decisions was made to increase, maintain or decrease alert level restrictions in Auckland. In summary:

Along with the rest of New Zealand, Auckland entered Alert Level 4 on 17 August 2021.
Decisions were made to keep Auckland at Alert Level 4 on 20, 23, 27 and 30 August, and also on 6 and 13 September 2021 (when a decision in principle was made to move to Alert Level 3 on 21 September).
On 20 September 2021, it was confirmed that Auckland would move to Alert Level 3 on 21 September 2021.
On 4 October 2021, Cabinet adopted three new stages of Alert Level 3. It was decided to move Auckland to Alert Level 3 stage 1 (3.1) from 5 October 2021.
Decisions were made to maintain Auckland at Alert Level 3.1 on 11 and 18 October 2021.
On 1 November 2021, it was decided to keep Auckland at Alert Level 3.1, but Cabinet agreed in principle to move Auckland to Alert Level 3.2 on 9 November, subject to a further public health risk assessment and Cabinet review.
On 8 November 2021, it was decided to move Auckland to Alert Level 3.2 on 9 November 2021.

Auckland remained at Alert Level 3.2 until the country entered the new COVID-19 Protection Framework on 2 December 2021. Entry into the new framework is addressed in more detail below.

In all, Auckland was in lockdown from 17 August 2021 until 2 December 2021 – more than three and a half months.

We consider all the alert level decisions outlined above to constitute ‘key decisions’. This is because every decision to raise, maintain or lower alert level restrictions had a significant impact on the large numbers of people residing in Auckland. Moreover, the imposition of restrictions had a significant cost both at a national and a regional level.

2.1.2 Northland lockdown | Te rāhui o te Tai Tokerau

Northland was subject to varying lockdown restrictions in the second half of 2021 that in some instances deviated from the position in Auckland and/or the rest of the country.

In summary:

On 17 August 2021, Northland entered Alert Level 4 with the rest of the country.
Cabinet decided on 30 August 2021 that when the rest of New Zealand moved to Alert Level 3 on 31 August 2021, Northland would remain in Alert Level 4 with Auckland until 2 September 2021, when it would move to Alert Level 3 (subject to public health advice).
By Cabinet decision on 6 September 2021, Northland moved to Alert Level 2 with the rest of New Zealand on 7 September 2021.
On 8 October 2021, Northland was moved to Alert Level 3, in accordance with a decision made by Ministers with Power to Act that day.
On 11 October 2021, Cabinet decided to maintain Northland at Alert Level 3.
On 18 October 2021, Cabinet decided to move Northland to Alert Level 2 the following day.
On 2 November 2021, Ministers with Power to Act decided to move Upper Northland to Alert Level 3 that night.
On 8 November 2021, Cabinet decided to move Upper Northland back to Alert Level 2 on 9 November 2021.

For the same reasons outlined above, we consider all of the above decisions to be key decisions.

2.1.3 Waikato lockdown | Te rāhui o Waikato

Waikato entered Alert Level 4 with the rest of New Zealand on 17 August 2021, and was moved to Alert Levels 3 and then 2 with the rest of the country on 31 August 2021 and 7 September 2021 respectively.

Thereafter, specific parts of Waikato were also subject to some unique alert level restrictions. In particular:

On 3 October 2021, Ministers with Power to Act decided to move parts of Waikato to Alert Level 3 that night.
On 7 October 2021, Ministers including the Minister for COVID-19 Response, Minister of Health and Minister of Justice decided to expand the area of Waikato that was subject to Alert Level 3.
On 11 October 2021, Cabinet decided to keep the relevant Waikato area at Alert Level 3 subject to further public health advice and confirmation by ministers.
On 18 October 2021, Cabinet decided to keep the relevant Waikato area at Alert Level 3 until 22 October, subject to further advice.
On 21 October 2021, the Minister for COVID-19 Response decided to keep the relevant Waikato area at Alert Level 3 until at least 27 October 2021.
On 26 October 2021, the Minister for COVID-19 Response decided to move the relevant Waikato area to Alert Level 3 stage 1 on 27 October 2021.
On 1 November 2021, Cabinet decided to move the Waikato area to Alert Level 3 stage 2 on 2 November 2021.
On 15 November 2021, Cabinet decided to move the Waikato area to Alert Level 2 on 16 November 2021.

Again, all of the above decisions are considered to be key decisions.

2.2 Entry into the COVID-19 Protection Framework | Te urunga ki te Anga Tiaki KOWHEORI-19

In mid-September 2021, the Cabinet Business Committee agreed that work should begin on a new alert level framework that could be applied once the vaccination rollout was complete.¹³⁷³ From there began the development of what became the COVID-19 Protection Framework. Entry into the COVID-19 Protection Framework on 2 December 2021 represented the end of lockdown for Auckland.

While useful background can be gleaned from other Cabinet decisions during the development of the COVID-19 Protection Framework, the key COVID-19 Protection Framework decisions in relation to lockdowns are as follows.

On 18 October 2021, Cabinet agreed to replace the elimination strategy with the minimisation and protection approach and agreed to use the COVID-19 Protection Framework ‘once New Zealand has reached the agreed conditions for transition’.¹³⁷⁴ Cabinet agreed in principle, subject to both consideration of the operational and legal implications of potentially operating two frameworks simultaneously and confirmation by COVID-19 Response Ministers with Power to Act, to the following targets for transitioning to the COVID-19 Protection Framework:

each DHB in Auckland: 90 percent full vaccination of those eligible
each DHB outside Auckland: 90 percent full vaccination of those eligible.¹³⁷⁵

On or about 20 October 2021, Ministers with Power to Act confirmed the 90 percent vaccination targets.

On 22 November 2021, Cabinet agreed in principle to move New Zealand to the COVID-19 Protection Framework on 2 December 2021, subject to confirmation on 29 November. Cabinet further agreed to rescind the 90 percent vaccination targets earlier adopted.

The decisions to formally adopt, and then enter into, the COVID-19 Protection Framework constitute key decisions. Entry into the COVID-19 Protection Framework represented the end of the Auckland lockdown and therefore its timing substantially affected the Auckland region in a number of ways. The decision to use vaccination targets to trigger entry into the COVID-19 Protection Framework had a significant impact on a number of people, particularly those in Auckland, as it tied certain of their rights (such as to freedom of movement and freedom of association) to a medical treatment and whether that treatment was undertaken by others.

2.2.1 Cabinet criteria for assessing changes to alert levels | Ngā paearu a te Rūnanga Minita hei aromatawai i ngā panonitanga taumata whakaoho

In May 2020, Cabinet had agreed eight factors to use in assessing changes between alert levels. The Cabinet paper set out the factors as follows.

The Director-General of Health’s satisfaction on four health matters:
- trends in the transmission of the virus (the threshold varies by alert level), including his confidence in the data
- the capacity and capability of our testing and contact-tracing systems
- the effectiveness of our self-isolation, quarantine and border measures
- the capacity in the health system more generally to move to the new level, including the workforce and ICU capacity, plus the availability of PPE for those for whom it is recommended.
Plus four wider factors for Cabinet to consider:
- evidence of the effects of the measures on the economy and society more broadly
- evidence of the impacts of the measures for at-risk populations in particular
- public attitudes towards the measures and the extent to which people and businesses understand, accept and abide by them, and
- [the Government’s] ability to operationalise the restrictions, including satisfactory implementation planning.¹³⁷⁶

On 4 October 2021, Cabinet agreed to add vaccination rates (particularly for priority populations) to the public health factors to be advised on by the Director-General of Health in relation to alert level decisions.¹³⁷⁷

¹³⁷³Cabinet Minute, CBC-21-MIN-0106, Oral item: Proposals for Interim Alert Level Delta 1 Changes
(15 September 2021)

¹³⁷⁴ Cabinet Paper and Minute, CAB-21-MIN-0421, COVID-19 Confirming a Strategy for a Highly Vaccinated
New Zealand (18 October 2021), https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2023-01/COVID-19-
Confirming-a-strategy-for-a-highly-vaccinated-New-Zealand.pdf, pp 1–2 of Minute

¹³⁷⁵ Cabinet Paper and Minute, CAB-21-MIN-0421, COVID-19 Confirming a Strategy for a Highly Vaccinated
New Zealand (18 October 2021), https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2023-01/COVID-19-
Confirming-a-strategy-for-a-highly-vaccinated-New-Zealand.pdf, p 24 of Minute

¹³⁷⁶ Cabinet Paper and Minute, CAB-20-MIN-0199, COVID-19: Preparing to Review New Zealand’s Level 3
Status (4 May 2020), https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2023-01/Paper-and-Minute-Preparingto-Review-New-Zealands-Level-3-Status.PDF, para 16

¹³⁷⁷ Cabinet Paper and Minute, CAB-21-MIN-0407, COVID-19 Response: 4 October Review of Alert Level
Settings (4 October 2021), https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2023-01/ALC9-04102021-COVID19-Response-4-October-Review-of-Alert-Level-Settings.pdf, para 24