Beautiful and off the beaten track, our regions believe that could be an asset to Covid-19 recovery.
East Coast officials say shutting the two main roads into the region means they could form their own bubble away from the rest of the country.
Allowing for a swifter move down alert levels and unlocking the local economy.
The area has only had four Covid-19 cases now, all have now recovered and there hasn't been a fresh case in 18 days.
“Last week we had extensive community testing and we had most of our units go up the coast, people could be tested in Gisborne and our health officials are confident enough to say that we do not have community spread in Tairawhiti,” Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz told TVNZ1’s Breakfast.
Four regions nationally currently have no active cases, Tairawhiti, Whanganui, Wairarapa and the West Coast, which hasn't had a new case for nearly four weeks.
Grey District Mayor Tania Gibson says some in the regions are still cautious about opening up restrictions but the economic situation is getting grim.
“We don’t want to undo all the good work we have done but 86 per cent of businesses on the West Coast are small businesses and if they don’t get operating soon we will see more of them lost.”
Losing tourism will be a big blow for many regional economies, so it's even more important to get local businesses such as retail and hospitality open as soon as it's safe.
Economist Rodney Jones says the Government needs to start looking at the option of easing restrictions after two weeks of Alert Level 3.
“We do need to consider regional variations, maybe schools can’t go back nationwide but businesses can resume in these areas that have not had a case for four weeks, three weeks.”
The official message is still caution with Dr Ashley Bloomfield saying exemptions for regions from Alert Level 3 are not likely.
“Now is the time to maintain that vigilance right across the country and as we move into Alert Level 2, that's when there may be a case for some regional differentiation.”
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