Jade Siemsen knows what she's looking forward to when lockdown eases, and she and other Dubbo residents can start counting down to life returning to more normality.
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The mum of baby Adelaide would like to visit family in Sydney, permitted after NSW reaches the 80 per cent double-dose vaccination mark, expected in late October.
Travel between regional areas and the state capital is one of the freedoms contained in the NSW government's plan for life with 80 per cent of the population completely vaccinated against COVID-19, released on Monday.
They will add to the eased restrictions at 70 per cent coverage for the twice-jabbed, including small indoor gatherings and access to hospitality venues and hairdressers.
Those freedoms are likely to be triggered on October 11.
Mrs Siemsen is looking forward to being able to go out to dinner again, and taking her 10-month-old daughter back to Rhyme Time at Macquarie Regional Library.
"Adelaide would love that, she was really enjoying it [before lockdown]," she said.
- READ MORE: NSW 80 per cent vax road map revealed
Dubbo MP Dugald Saunders says there's now "a very clear pathway for where we're heading" with the release of the government's plan for 80 per cent double-dose vaccination coverage and beyond.
"So there's a 70 per cent pathway, and then 80 and then 90ish as we get to December 1," he said.
At 70 per cent for regional areas, essentially stay-at-home orders would be gone, he said.
Travel between regional cities would also be permitted, but travel to and from Greater Sydney would have to wait until the 80 per cent mark, he said.
At 70 per cent fully vaccinated Dubbo residents would be able to get a haircut.
"There will be a cap of five people in the hairdressers at any one time, but then that changes at 80 per cent, to become a one-per-four-square metre rule with no limit," Mr Saunders said.
"And then at December 1, it's just a one-per-two-square metre rule, with no limits.
At 80 per cent, all premises will operate at one person per four square metres indoors, and one person per two square metres outdoors.
"So if you're a pub or a club or a restaurant you know what your capacity is at one-per-four or one per two, and you'll just adapt it at 80 or 90 per cent, basically," Mr Saunders said.
The MP said the road map provided real clarity heading into Christmas, for example, "when we know that from December 1 across the whole state, there's no limit on the people you can have at your home".
"There's no limit on travel, it clarifies that we can have a Christmas that everyone's been wanting," Mr Saunders said.
"So I just think that's an awesome thing for us to be able to give now, a few months out from Christmas, to give people clarity that if we all stay the course - and there will be people who won't want to get vaccinated, and personal decisions around that are fine.
"But there will be a couple of months where it will be different and possibly uncomfortable for those people who aren't vaccinated, but for the majority of the population there's... a real ray of sunshine, and I think people are really going to enjoy having that to look forward to."
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