Griffith is waking up to a renewed sense of freedom, with a roadmap out of lockdown and restrictions set to bring new life to local businesses and overall community spirit.
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October 11th is slated as 'freedom day' where a large number of restrictions will be removed, this will be followed by the removal of further restrictions late October once 80 percent of the NSW adult population is fully vaccinated and once more on December 1st when NSW reaches hits 90 percent double dose vaccination rate.
Griffith City mayor John Dal Broi said whilst he expected there to be apprehension in the short term, he was happy for the community to have 'more freedoms' in the weeks and months ahead.
"I am genuinely happy that people will have more freedoms and am grateful that we escaped the worst of it," Councillor Dal Broi said.
"There will be apprehension in the short term but I suppose we are just going to have to get used to living with the virus.
That's why it is so important that we all get vaccinated and get tested when we are feeling crook."
Manager of Yenda Diggers Club, Peter Murphy said the roadmap out of lockdown delivered by the state government gave 'a bit of sunshine' on what has otherwise been a very tough year.
"At the Diggers club we are looking forward to getting our regulars and locals back," Mr Murphy said.
"Most importantly, with the possibility of tourists coming to visit our region we are hoping trade will continue to pre COVID levels.
Rocky Marando, Committee Member from RC Indoor Sports said that it was 'good news' for the business that community sport would be able to return late October.
"We were unable to wrap up our winter indoor futsal competitions which was a shame but we look forward to starting the summer season in a few weeks time," Mr Marando said.
"It has been a very challenging few two years for us but let's hope that we can return to a sense of normality and continue playing the sports we love."
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Co owner of Zecca, Daniel D'Aquino said he was eager to 'get back into it' as restrictions continue to ease.
"Even in comparison to last year during COVID, we have experienced a big drop in numbers visiting Zecca so we are eagerly anticipating the ease of restrictions," Mr D'Aquino said.
"And any rules or mandates that the government imposes we will follow."
Rozanne Cotterill, Owner of Cafe 2 sixty 2 said she was 'very excited' for the relaxing of restrictions.
"90 percent of our business is dine in so we really have had to make adjustments to our setup to ensure we are abiding by capacity limits," Mrs Cotterill said.
"The tourists that are bound to come into town and spend their money are just the icing on the cake."
According to Councillor Dal Broi, whilst Griffith would have to change their lifestyles, the freedoms on offer were 'well worth it'.
"We need to be more careful rather than carefree as we embrace some of the new freedoms this roadmap offers us," Cnr Dal Broi said.
"We just have to continue to adjust, this is our reality now and I am happy for us all to return to some point of normality."
A list of what you can and cannot do in regional NSW is available here.
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