Kia ora koutou, 

Firstly I wanted to thank you for your support over the weekend in achieving a record number of Covid-19 vaccinations as part of Super Saturday. As you will know, 130,002 doses were administered with a total of 85% of New Zealand's eligible population now having had at least 1 vaccination. We saw some fantastic support coming through from the sector on social media and other channels – so thank you for getting behind the day of action. 

Back to the business of COVID-19 alert levels and guidance; yesterday it was announced that:

• Northland will move to Alert Level 2 at 11.59pm this evening 
• Waikato will stay at a strict Alert Level 3, to be reviewed on Friday 
• Auckland will remain at Alert Level 3, Stage 1 with current restrictions for another 2 weeks (at least) with more information to be released Friday including vaccination targets
• ​​All other NZ areas stay at Alert Level 2 

A reminder about Alert Level 3, Stage 1 

• At Step 1 you can do an expanded range of outdoor recreation activities such as going to the beach or playground, rock climbing, water-based activities involving sailing boats, motorised boats or other craft like jet skis, and fishing from a motorised boat or vessel 
• To maintain public safety, Government is recommending that recreation activities are restricted to one household – this includes activities such as golf, bowls, tennis and croquet  
• Outdoor exercise classes can take place limited to a maximum of 10 people as long as physical distancing (2m) is maintained by all participants. Multiple classes can take place in an outdoor space as long as they are at least 2m apart and groups do not intermingle. 
• Professional coaching can take place where this can be conducted within the Step 1 rules. For example, tennis, golf or horse riding coaching provided it is on an individual or small group basis, equipment is not shared and physical distancing (2m) is maintained. 

Recapping Gathering Limits at Level 2 

Last Friday we notified a further change to previously-communicated gathering limits for community sport. We appreciate this represented a reversal of information previously provided and apologise if this caused angst over the weekend. As always, we find ourselves in a state of flux sometimes in interpreting each individual health order and its implications. The key changes were as follows: 

• In Level 2, community sport is considered a social gathering and limited to groups of 100 people 
• When playing contact sport, no physical distancing is needed as long as groups do not exceed 100 
• Multiple groups of 100 can take part in indoor facilities and outdoor locations as long as they are contained to defined spaces. Defined spaces indoors must be divided by walls and not share airflow. Defined spaces outdoors are classified as being at least 2m apart from other defined spaces or having walls or dividers to separate groups. 
• The usual public hygiene and contact tracing requirements always apply. 

 
As always, if you have any questions, please contact your Partnership Manager or send COVID-19 related queries to this address: Covid19response@sportnz.org.nz. 

These are troubling times and we share in the pain of all those, particularly in Auckland, where there seems marginal light at the end of the tunnel. I can only say kia kaha and keep promoting vaccination as a way to move our country through the current challenges. 
 
Ngā mihi,  
Raelene Castle