Following the government’s announcement of the move into alert level 3, Vice Chancellor Dawn Freshwater has reiterated that the university will continue online teaching and learning until at least the beginning of semester two.
Alert level 3 will begin on Monday the 27th of April at 11:59pm. According to Freshwater, the Ministry of Education has provided guidelines for tertiary education at the lower alert level, and that “While these restrictions allow for more flexibility in on-campus activities compared to Level 4, it is clear that such activities are still severely limited, and only allowable as exceptions.”
Freshwater has previously made clear that the majority of in-person activities will not resume until semester two, due to the potential for the alert level to change and the “practicalities of re-opening our campuses”.
The university’s position is currently that campuses would re-open at alert level 2, but not before the beginning of the second semester. If this occurred, physical distancing and other precautionary measures would be in place. All in-person teaching activities would resume.
As the nation prepares to move to alert level 3 this week, it is becoming clearer what this will look like for people and businesses. Last week, business owners and workers were permitted to return to their premises to perform maintenance and prepare to re-open with physical distancing protocols in place. Businesses that involve physical contact will be unable to operate.
At level 3, you are still encouraged to stay home as much as possible and only travel for essential reasons. Individuals should work and study from home wherever possible. Bubbles can be expanded by a small amount in some cases.
In order to access the latest information regarding COVID-19 and our current alert level, head to www.covid19.govt.nz. If you believe you could have coronavirus, stay at home and contact Healthline at 0800 358 5453.
