Today's the day........

.....when our first Omicron community case of unknown origin was confirmed.  

The PM held a press conference this morning to announce that, as of midnight tonight, the whole country is entering the red setting of the Covid Protection framework aka the 'Traffic Light' system.  Today we've heard a stream of announcements about cancellations of events larger than 100 people.  Ironically, the PM herself has also had to postpone her own wedding.  Life however, at the red setting, will continue with mask wearing and scanning as normal in all public venues but additionally, there will be limited gathering numbers.  

I was shocked and very surprised to find that this Omicron outbreak is centred in our region :(  I can feel the increased tension around the area already.  At this stage, my planned trip is going ahead and only time will tell whether anything changes.....

In other Omicron news, today there were 24 community cases with 8 people in hospital.  8 of those cases are in one family in Motueka.