COVID-19 Update Tuesday 12 October 2021

COVID-19 RESPONSE UPDATE – EXTENDED ALERT LEVELS AND MANDATORY VACCINATIONS

On Monday 11 October the Government made announcements in relation to the COVID-19 response efforts. Updates are as follows:

• Auckland stays in Alert Level 3 for at least another week and Auckland schools will not reopen on October 18.
• Waikato and Northland Alert Level 3 restrictions have been extended to 11.59pm on Thursday 14 October. A further announcement will be made regarding Alert Levels for these rohe on Wednesday 13 October.
• The rest of New Zealand remains at Alert Level 2.
• The Government has also announced mandated vaccinations for those working in the education and healthcare sector who work in ‘high-risk’ areas.
  At this stage mandated vaccinations for the education sector does not include tertiary education However, we do encourage our staff to get vaccinated as our best line of defence to protect ourselves, our tauira, and community.
• As per this Government mandate, we understand our tauira who are enrolled in either high-risk healthcare or education programmes which require practicums may need to be vaccinated.

That will impact the tauira enrolled in the following courses:

• Bachelor of Health Science Māori Nursing
• Bachelor of Education
• Postgraduate students in high-risk healthcare areas and/or education settings

More information will be shared directly with our tauira in the healthcare and education programmes once timeframes and requirements for students on placement have been clarified.

In the meantime more information on the sweeping mandates is available on the NZ Government website - https://covid19.govt.nz/alert-levels-and-updates/latest-updates/mandatory-vaccination-for-two-workforces/

Information about our different campuses and course delivery is available on the website here.

We are thinking of our whānau, kaimahi and tauira who are in Level 3 and acknowledge that the situation is a hard and frustrating one as it stretches on. We hope to soon see the other rohe around the country in Level 2, and look forward to welcoming you all back to campus in the future.