12 September 2022
Tēnā koe
Thank you, and your school community, for everything you are doing to keep transmission of COVID-19 to a minimum. Your efforts – encouraging your community to get vaccinated, wear masks, stay home when sick, and improving ventilation at your school or kura – have made a difference.
Outlined below are the changes which take effect from 11.59pm tonight (12 September):
- household contacts of COVID-19 cases will no longer need to isolate, but instead should undertake a RAT test every day for 5 days. This change will help to alleviate some of the pressure I know you are feeling on teaching and staff numbers. It will also mean that children and young people who are asymptomatic household contacts of confirmed cases will be able to attend school in person, including for assessments and national end of year exams.
- Mask wearing is no longer strongly recommended.
A special edition of He Pitopito Kōrero | School Leaders Bulletin is also being sent today noting these changes.
I know that the last two and a half years have been a challenging time for schools and kura, with everyone working incredibly hard to keep tamariki, ākonga and kaiako as safe as possible from COVID-19.
Please continue to follow the public health advice which is now so familiar to us all. The combined layers of protection are vital in reducing transmission of COVID-19 and other infectious illnesses and therefore helping to protect our communities.
Thank you again for your ongoing professionalism and endurance. Please reach out to your local Te Mahau | Ministry of Education staff if you need support.
Nāku noa, nā
Jan Tinetti
Associate Minister of Education
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