Covid-19 Local Government Response Unit Update – Monday 15 November 2021
Local Government Response Unit main page
National State of Play
Today, Monday 15 November, the Prime Minister announced that Cabinet had decided that Waikato will move down to Alert Level 2 from 11.59 tomorrow 16 November.
Auckland remains at Step 2 of Alert Level 3 at 11.59pm on Tuesday, 9 November 2021, and Cabinet will review alert level settings for Auckland on Monday 22 November.
Auckland students in Years 1 to 10 can return to face-to-face learning at schools and kura from 17 November 2021.
The rest of New Zealand remains at Alert Level 2 with current restrictions in place.
With this announcement, the Prime Minister reminded the public that although New Zealand is still operating under the Alert Level system, it will soon be moving to the new COVID-19 Protection Framework.
New Zealand will move to the new system when DHBs reach the double vaccination target of 90%. Auckland will move to the Red level as soon as all three of the Auckland DHBs hit the 90% double vaccination target.
On 29 November, Cabinet will review the vaccination progress and public heath advice to see if any of these targets need to change.
The Government also indicated further decisions will be announced this week, including the date for movement at the Auckland border, and details on how people can obtain vaccination certificates.
Booster Vaccination Programme
Today the Prime Minister announced that from 29 November, any person aged 18 or over will be eligible for a vaccine booster shot, once they have been fully vaccinated for six months. Eligible people will be able to book their vaccine booster shot through the book my vaccine website.
People who had a third shot because they were immuno-suppressed would need to wait until six months after their third dose.
Information on current cases, COVID-19 test sites and economic support
There are 173 new community cases to report today, 163 in Auckland, 7 in Waikato, two in Northland and one in the Rotorua and Taupō Lakes District. Available testing sites can be found on the Ministry of Health website: Available testing sites. Locations of interest can be found at Locations of Interest. This is being updated as soon as information is available.
Economic assistance is available for those impacted by the lockdown, more information available on the COVID-19 website, including details of the new Business Boost package announced Friday.
Covid-19 Vaccination in the workplace and next steps Webinar
On Monday 8 November, Taituarā held a webinar on the vaccination mandate and related issues as well as the steps the response unit is taking to review the guidance as policy decisions are made.
The webinar was recorded and will be made available to all who registered. If you’ve not registered, you can still register for free and receive the recording by emailing webinars@taituara.org.nz.
Development of guidance for the new COVID-19 Protection Framework
The Response Unit is working on shaping up guidance for the new COVID-19 Protection Framework. The detail needed will emerge over the next 4–5 weeks with the final details not likely to be confirmed until after the 29 November Cabinet meeting.
We expect to issue a new set of Guidance for council services the week of 29 November.
We are conscious that this is a long time away for Councils. Organised by Taituarā, we met with a small sub-group of Councils to help frame up the new guidance and review the early iterations. This sub-group will meet again next week.
Both vaccination certificates and mandatory vaccinations will be a key part of the guidance. The 5:15 sent on Wednesday 27 October 2021 included information available at that time.
All current details on the COVID-19 Protection Framework is available on the COVID-19 website: The COVID-19 Protection Framework | Unite against COVID-19 (covid19.govt.nz), and the Response Unit provided an overview of the Framework in the update for Friday 22 October.
Epidemic notice remains in force
The Epidemic notice was renewed on 8 September 2021 and will remain in place for three months. More information of the provisions in the notice are outlined in previous Response Unit updates, which can be viewed on the Local Government Response Unit webpage.
