Industries finding themselves in essential services 'grey area'

Wednesday, 25 March 2020

Doggy daycare, a nice cup of joe, or a shiny new piece of whiteware may not seem essential under lockdown, but there are exceptions.

A range of businesses were left grappling with the Government rules trying to find out whether they were considered an essential service the day before coronavirus lockdown.

Auckland based doggy daycare providers Pets in the City believed they were classified as an essential service under the Animal Health and Welfare category and would remain open.

Vinnie rests in his hotel room at Pets in the City in Auckland. Pet care may be considered an essential service under covid-19 lockdown rules.

Owner and chief executive Greg Main said though they had scaled back most of their services, there were important cases where pets needed to be taken care of under the lockdown.

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He said they were continuing to look after pets of owners who could not get back in the country, pets whose owners were carrying out essential frontline services and pets of sick people.

While they are waiting on clarification from MBIE they had been advised to 'self-assess'.

Wholesale Firewood Supplies in Martinborough can nowbe assured that it is an essential service under lockdown rules.

'Our assessment is that we are an essential service as we are an 'entity whose closure would jeopardise the maintenance of animal health or welfare standards',' Main said.

Whatever happened, there was no way they would ever abandon any pets.

The retail meat industry was also seeking urgent clarification regarding the status of independent butcher stores under Alert Level 4.

MBIE updated its definitions on Wednesday afternoon saying: 'butchers, bakeries and similar small-scale food retailers are considered non-essential'.

Retail Meat New Zealand spokesman Kit Arkwright said their members had issues around delivering meat to resthomes, halal meat preparation and what to do with store product.

'The industry's primary purpose is to slow down the spread [of coronavirus] … and we're just trying to work out all these issues,' Arkwright said.

Cafes, restaurants and bars have known for a few days that they would have to close, but there was the odd exception.

Mojo Hospital cafe which serves staff at Wellington Hospital was to remain open.

A Mojo Coffee spokesman said because the cafe was a supplier of services to the district health board the cafe and its staff were considered essential services.

'As well as providing food and drink services, Mojo Hospital is a great way to maintain staff morale and wellbeing in a very difficult situation,' he said.

Maintaining utilities within homes was another essential service that the Government had to now consider.

MBIE deputy chief executive Paul Stocks said they were trying to put a system in place where people could buy essential household items such as whiteware in urgent need, as most household goods stores weren't classified as essential.

After initially saying that hardware stores such as Bunnings, Placemakers and Mitre 10 would close during the lockdown the Government said on Wednesday that as the supply chain for building and construction they could stay open to trade customers for essential purposes only.

Food delivery was prohibited, except meals-on-wheels and whole food delivery such as subscription food boxes like My Food Bag.

Firewood considered essential fuel

On Wednesday morning firewood suppliers were among those getting nervous around whether they could keep operating.

The Government's Covid-19 website does not specifically refer to firewood as an essential service, but Stocks told reporters at a media briefing on Wednesday afternoon that firewood was considered a fuel.

'Obviously keeping warm and safe during winter is essential and if the fuel for that is wood, then we would consider that to be an essential service,' Stocks said.