School Sport NZ sanctioned events – Covid-19 update 10/3/20

A recent email below from the School Sport New Zealand (NZ Secondary Schools Sport Council) regarding the COVID-19 virus.

NZTSA will not be cancelling events unless directed by “higher powers”.

Main points to remember:

– do not attend if feeling unwell.

– not attend if been to mainland China, etc in past 14 days.

– practice good hygiene

– be aware of team members, etc who have existing health conditions.

If you need the Health & Safety documents for Nationals it is on the website (NZ Secondary Schools tab.)

Reminder that Auckland Cup entries close 15 March.

North of the Bridge and Lower South Island entries close 20 March.

“The Ministry of Health has continued to update its advice daily in relation to the COVID-19 virus within NZ.

With five cases currently confirmed in New Zealand School Sport NZ has started to receive more queries in relation to events being possibly postponed and/or cancelled from schools, parents and event providers.

School Sport NZ continues to take its advice from the Ministry of Health in relation to sport events.

As of today (10/3/20) this states:

At this stage, the Ministry of Health does not propose altering arrangements for public events. If you are an event organiser, you should focus on:

reminding the public and event workers not to attend if they are feeling unwell

reminding the public and event workers not to attend if they have been in mainland China, Iran, northern Italy or the Republic of Korea (excluding airport transit) in the past 14 days

ensuring your emergency management plan is up to date

briefing your event staff on how to practice good hygiene and making it easy for staff and attendees to practice good hygiene 

For a full brief please follow the link below:

https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-novel-coronavirus-information-specific-audiences/covid-19-advice-public-events-and-mass-gatherings

This link contains information for event providers in relation to planning events during this period of time.

School Sport NZ highly recommends that all event providers are fully aware of best practice around the identification, mitigation of spread, and processes to be initiated should a case be suspected at your event.

Please update any Health and Safety documents should you see fit in relation to the above and we will  add to our website for schools to access.

It is of vital importance that clear communications between School Sport NZ and event organisers continues through this time. If you as an event organiser are thinking about modifying, changing, postponing, or cancelling your event, please ensure you speak with us first.

Miscommunication at this time is extremely unhelpful and adds to the issues we are all facing.

We continue to monitor the situation daily through the Ministry of Health and advise event organisers to do similar.

Should the advice from the Ministry of Health change we will update our position accordingly.

If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Regards

Mike Summerell

Events Manager

School Sport New Zealand

0212689931″