HEAD counts and masks are almost in the rear-view mirror and there's a positive vibe for Christmas and New Year trade at Orange's hospitality venues.
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Under the NSW Government's roadmap out of COVID-19, the biggest easing of restrictions will take place on Wednesday with venues ditching restrictions limiting capacity.
Masks will only be required for indoor front-of-house hospitality staff who are not fully vaccinated but will still be encouraged in settings where people cannot social distance. They can be discarded outdoors.
COVID-19 QR check-ins are still required for nightclubs, pubs, small bars and registered clubs but it's a small price to pay according to Duntryleague secretary-manager Michelle Carroll.
"We have a bit of normality coming back which is really good," she said.
Ms Carroll said the threat of lockdowns and fines for not complying with NSW Health COVID-19 rules had been stressful for staff.
"Absolutely, and the vaccination thing too, making sure everyone's been vaccinated. ... it was horrible on the staff," she said.
"Checking in, making people sit down when they're drinking, that was a hard one, and just having to keep the numbers.
"When you've got Saturday, a big golf day and you can only have 38 people in a bar ... which flows on to loss of income."
The restrictions were to ease once NSW hit a 95 per cent double vaccination for people over 16, or on December 15, whichever occurred first. Western NSW Local Health District hit that number on December 5 with 95.4 of its residents over 16 fully vaccinated, ahead of the state-wide figure of 92.8 per cent.
Like most hospitality venues, Duntryleague is now scrambling to make up for lost time.
"It will be good to just finish off the year on a high and hopefully we'll have a really great month. We're looking forward to starting off afresh next year."
GYM owners Kim Draper and Bambi Romano are also looking forward things returning to relative normality.
While they still have QR codes to enforce, from Wednesday there is no longer a limit on people inside gyms and indoor recreation and sporting facilities.
"I'm just happy we don't have to juggle those numbers anymore," Mrs Draper said.
While Western NSW Local Health District is averaging over 95 per cent double vaccination, Acting Chief Executive Mark Spittal said residents should still be on their guard against COVID-19.
"We can't afford to think we've done enough,, there are still three local government areas in our district that are yet to hit 90 per cent fully vaccinated," he said.
The three districts are Cobar, which is only at 78 per cent, Brewarrina at 78.8 and Walgett, 87.8 per cent.
Mr Spittal said the importance of vaccination and COVID-safe behaviour is highlighted by the prevalence of the virus's transmission between children not yet eligible for vaccination.
In the most recent outbreaks, almost 25 per cent of the cases were children under 10.