House parties have reportedly broken out during level 3 lockdown around Dunedin’s student area. Despite the restrictions outlined by the government that gatherings of ten people maximum may be permitted for ceremonies, and to only make a small addition to your bubble, some students have attended parties beyond their respective flats.
Covid-19 conditions for the Level 3 alert level outline that people who attend permitted ceremonies must also maintain physical distancing and take note of all the people who attend for tracing purposes. Students interviewed by Critic have stated however that the parties were “pretty normal,” and some breached the Level 3 requirements.
One student who attended a party in the student area, Holly*, described the party as a typical “breatha get together". She believed that everyone there knew what they were doing wasn’t appropriate given the circumstances, but she felt it was “nice to pretend things were normal for a bit".
Holly reckoned it was a pretty normal party, the only difference was that hitting Suburbia was definitely not an option. Her friend who went to the same party summed up that it was “all good, just a couple beers with the mates".
Tom* attended a different party the day Level 3 was announced. Tom described that there was a group of flats essentially in one big bubble, and the 25 of them were excited to see each other. He said it was “tons of fun” and although some were worried about hiding the party but essentially they thought it was “no big deal” due to the mingling already happening between the flats.
However, a police officer showed up the next day and told Tom and the flats that he had been warning partygoers all over Dunedin about the risk of these parties. Tom said “the police were understanding” and it was no big deal as long as they remained in one big bubble, however they were warned about the message they were sending to other flats by setting a “bad example".
Tom stressed that “by hosting a party we were sending the message that we don’t care… and we don’t think the rules apply to us, which I definitely don’t support.” He doesn’t think others should risk breaking their bubble, and said “having law enforcement show up wasn’t scary - it was embarrassing. We all know better".
Another student, Liam*, was excited to see his friends after a long four weeks. The students who still were at Liam’s flat went to another party with “definitely more than ten people” in attendance. “It was really chill, we knew everyone there which was good” however he understood that he was breaching the lockdown.
Liam and his friend Dan* agreed that “we knew it wasn’t right,” they just looked forward to seeing other people and feeling a sense of normalcy. Dan said “for ages we have only been looking at the faces in our flat, we were kind of going crazy".
Liam reckons that his mistake shouldn’t be repeated by other party-goers who want a night out. “That’s the last and only time I breach lockdown rules,” he said, “I don’t wanna risk getting fined, I’m too poor for that shit".
Prime Minister Jacinda Adern reported that there were 685 breaches of Level 3 lockdown on the first weekend it was announced, most involving social gatherings. She continues to stress that people shouldn’t undo the hard work everyone has already done by breaking their bubbles, and that she “[doesn’t] want to see our team of 5 million punished for the behaviour of a few".
*Names have been changed for privacy