Hooray, alert level one!

Yes, Jacinda tells us we are 'normal'

A newsletter this evening from the MOE has been sent to schools from the secretary of Education which indicates that we are officially safe. It does mean that unjustified absences will now be considered as truancy. However, these were not her points. Iona Holsted wrote:

The key changes for schools at Alert Level 1 are:

• Physical distancing is not a requirement but where possible or practicable is encouraged when you are around people you don’t know.
• There are no specific public health requirements.
• There are no restrictions on personal movement so all students, children and staff continue to be safe to go to school, and all students must attend school.
• You are no longer required to keep a contact tracing register but will continue with the usual practice of having a visitor and an attendance register (and will need to work with local health authorities to identify close contacts, should there be a case connected with the school).
• There are no restrictions on numbers at gatherings or on physical activities including cultural and sporting activities, practices and events.

There are key public health measures - for everyone in New Zealand to follow. For schools this means:

• If people are sick, they should stay home (phone Healthline or their GP and get tested if they have cold or flu symptoms).
• Continue to regularly wash and dry hands, sneeze and cough into elbows.
• Soap, water and the ability to dry hands should be provided in bathrooms.
• Regularly disinfect shared surfaces.
• Support contact tracing efforts by displaying QR Code posters for the NZ COVID Tracer App (see item below for more information).
• Stringent self-isolation of those who display relevant symptoms of COVID-19, test positive for COVID-19, have been in close contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19, or have been overseas in the last 14 days.

What this also means is that parents are able to come on-site and that the newsletter we sent out today is already out of date. We no longer require a contact tracing register which means that you can drop off your children and pick them up just as you did before we had lockdown.