Pubs and cafes will be able to welcome twice as many patrons and other businesses will have capacity limits removed entirely from Monday, but the unvaccinated will have to wait until December 15 to join the party.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Premier Dominic Perrottet announced a raft of changes to the state's reopening "road map" on Tuesday, including raising the density limit in hospitality venues from one person per four square metres to one person per two square metres from November 8.
Capacity limits for most businesses will go, as will caps on home visitors, and stadiums, cinemas and theatres will have 100 per cent seated crowd capacity.
Nightclubs will reopen for dancing, but gym and dance classes will stay capped at 20.
The changes were scheduled for December 1, but Mr Perrottet said the new freedoms were a "balancing act" which rewarded those who had "made the effort" to get vaccinated.
Modus Merewether general manager Scott Clarke said the new density limits were a "game changer" for hospitality businesses.
"Our capacity will increase by about 40 people. It doesn't sound like much, but it's a lot of people we are saying no to at the moment on the phone," he said.
The unvaccinated will not be able to participate in wider social and economic activity until two weeks later than first flagged, or when the state hits an adult double-dose rate of 95 per cent, whichever comes sooner.
The chances of NSW reaching 95 per cent before December 15 look remote.
The state's first-dose rate was 93.6 per cent on Monday and had moved only 0.5 percentage points in a week. At that rate, it will not reach 95 per cent until November 21.
Even if the pace of vaccination does not slow more than it has already, it will take at least another four weeks, to around Christmas, before all of that 95 per cent have received their second shots.
The double-dose rate reached 88.3 per cent in NSW on Monday. The first-dose rate was 88.3 per cent on October 2, suggesting it takes at least a month for the second-dose rate to catch up.
Some Hunter businesses have remained closed since last month's initial reopening so they do not have to differentiate between the vaccinated and unvaccinated, but they now face having to wait another two weeks.
Hunter Business chief executive Bob Hawes said some other businesses had made "informal" decisions to exclude the unvaccinated even after December 1.
"They're just discerning that in their patronage some people that are fully vaccinated are still reticent and they want those numbers to be really high," he said.
The government's decision to push back the full reopening "to some extent meets that expectation that businesses were already building in for themselves".
Indoor mask rules will stay until December 15. QR code check-ins will remain in place after Monday.
Newcastle hotelier Mick Starkey said he was "happy that as a community we are opening back up".
""We are certainly heading in the right direction," he said. "The slowly, slowly approach seems to be the most responsible. The last thing we want is another spike and have to close again."
In the news
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark: newcastleherald.com.au
- Download our app
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News