Port Macquarie-Hastings clubs, restaurants, bars and cafes are preparing for tighter restrictions ahead of Friday, July 24 in response to a rise of COVID-19 cases in the state.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced the measures including a reduction of bookings from 20 to 10 people, a cap of 300 people in a venue at any one time and instructed businesses to create a digital record of visitors within 24 hours.
Claudia Buckby is the manager of Wauchope Country Club and she believes it's incredibly important for the community to be vigilant, given the unfolding situation in Victoria and NSW.
"We need to be responsible and act responsibly within the community," she said.
When tighter restrictions kick in on Friday, the club won't have to make many adjustments given they already operate under strict COVID-19 health requirements.
Bookings at the club will be reduced from 20 people to 10 people and instead of guests manually signing in, there will be a digital system to allow better contact tracing if an outbreak should occur.
Ms Buckby said the club can still host up to 100 people in the restaurant area, while also abiding by the four square metre rule and 1.5 metre social distancing rules.
Ms Buckby praised the community for being understanding about the need for restrictions to occur.
"Everyone has been really well behaved," she said.
Club Blackhead manager Shane Globits said the hospitality industry won't survive another lockdown and is calling on the government to consider individual clubs when it comes to tightening of restrictions.
He said as regional and rural areas are very different to major cities, circumstances should be taken into consideration.
Mr Globits said there is increased pressure on clubs to carry out digitalised data entry for contact tracing, in case of a possible outbreak.
He said this is time consuming for smaller clubs, who can't afford to employ additional staff members.
Rob Dwyer from Laurieton United Services Club is waiting to read the finalised guidelines on the tightening of restrictions to establish what they might mean for the community.
The Laurieton United Services Club hosts a number of community groups for meetings and other gatherings throughout the week.
Mr Dwyer said unfortunately reducing bookings from 20 people to 10 will make it more difficult for those groups to meet.
However, there might be another option for groups to meet in larger numbers, depending on the finalised restriction guidelines.
The club already has a digitalised system in place for visitors on entry, which makes the contact tracing process more streamlined.
However, Kew Country Club is required to manually upload their visitor entry details via a digital system after visitors sign in on paper.
What else is making news, sport?
While you're with us, you can also receive updates straight to your inbox from the Port Macquarie News. To make sure you're up to date with all the news, sign up here. If you would like to support our journalists you can subscribe here.
