New-case rates of the Delta variant are finally reducing and we still have no cases on South Island outside managed isolation. Yesterday the NZ Government announced a move to Level 2 which allows life to start up in a controlled way, with restaurants and retail reopening. This remains a cautious time, with no guarantee that the virus is fully contained, but we will all continue to do our part.

Thank you to everyone in NZ for your cooperation to date. Your collective efforts have got us here. But I have said before, and I will say it again: New Zealand has been sheltered from the worst effects of COVID-19. We have had a timely reminder that we are not impervious to the disease and our liberties, livelihoods and health are all at risk if we do not follow the rules. To those reading this outside of New Zealand, we have a new empathy for what you have been through and genuinely appreciate how you have stayed strong and kept the business and our customers working. And thank you in particular to the Sales and Marketing team in NZ and worldwide who are busy dealing with the delay to customers orders that this caused. It is never easy to deliver bad news, but by working with customers we still hope to avoid causing material delays to their programs.

I only wrote Lockdown Thoughts at Levels 3 and 4 last time, so I will sign-off for now. Hopefully for good, but something tells me that would be optimistic! I will keep writing something each week for Grapevine and I am always happy for suggestions on what people would like to hear about. Stay safe everyone.

Ben Reed
Managing Director - HamiltonJet