COVID-19: Alert level changes

As most of you would now be aware, there have been newly confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the Auckland region.

Subsequently the Prime Minister announced last night that all of Auckland will go into Alert Level 3 lockdown from midday today (Wednesday 12th August) for 3 days until Friday 14th August, whilst contact tracing occurs and the source of the transmission is determined.

Auckland and Manukau campuses

• We are instructing all students and staff not to come into the Auckland and Manukau campus today, Thursday and Friday, but instead, study and work from home for the rest of the week.
• If you need to visit campus to collect essential equipment, or to make arrangements for closure, you will need to do this before 12.00noon today.

• If you do need to come into the campus before noon, we encourage you to wear a face mask and practice social distancing.
• Contact trace yourself and registering yourself in the Whitecliffe logbook is required.

Wellington and Christchurch campuses

• All other regions will be moving into Lockdown Level 2, which means Christchurch and Wellington campuses will be open but if you wish to work from home, you may do so for the rest of this week.
• If you are immune-compromised, or caring for/living with vulnerable people please do not come into campus.

• All students must contract trace with our Whitecliffe logbook, social distancing must be followed and face masks are recommended.

As the situation evolves, we will continue to let students and staff as up to date as possible.

Operational Procedures

When entering the campus all students must fill in the visitor logbook. During your time on the campus, you must maintain physical distance, hand washing and regularly clean surfaces that you are working on.

If you have any contact with the new identified Covid19 cluster or are sick (with loss of smell, sore throat, fever, cough, cold) do not come to campus.

Please let us or your Regional Manager know if you have any questions about campus access.

What Auckland's level 3 restrictions mean:

• people need to stay at home in their bubble, other than essential movements such as going to the supermarket or local recreation
• Aucklanders need to work from home unless they are essential workers
• all schools and childcare facilities will close this morning, except for the children of essential service workers
• all bars, restaurants and businesses must close by midday today
• gatherings of more than 10 people are restricted, and are also restricted for funerals, tangi and weddings
• travel into Auckland is prohibited unless you normally live there and are travelling home
• The Prime Minister also asks Aucklanders to wear masks while accessing essential services

What level 2 restrictions mean for the rest of New Zealand:

• social distancing of two metres applies
• mass gatherings are limited to 100 people
• businesses can open if they follow physical distancing and record-keeping guidelines
• hospitality businesses must keep groups of customers separated, seated and served by a single person
• schools, early learning services and tertiary institutes are open
• The Prime Minister says masks can be worn if someone is in a place where social distancing is difficult, for example, on public transport

Support

Your lecturers and tutors will be available to support your studies. The Library staff are also online to offer research and academic study skills support and to help you navigate online resources. Contact IT Support if you need assistance with your connectivity or devices.

Handy COVID-19 Whitecliffe links:

• Whitecliffe FAQ on COVID-19
• Tech support while studying remotely
• Getting ready for studying online

Attendance and progress

As always please make the most of the opportunities offered to you during your studies. Full attendance and participation places you in the best possible position to succeed.

Your attendance at scheduled sessions and completion of course activities is expected and required. Maintain your study hours. Just as if you were attending classes on campus, lecturers and tutors will maintain attendance records and you must let faculty know if you are unable to attend for any reason. Tutors and lecturers will be tracking your progress via your attendance, participation, progress with online tasks and assignments as always.

Keep track of where you’ve been

Whitecliffe strongly encourages all students to download the use NZ COVID Tracer, it's a lot easier for health officials to let you know about any risk of exposure.

• Download from the Apple store
• Download from Google Play

He waka eke noa, we are all in this together.