Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced that Auckland will return to Alert Level 3 at 6am Sunday, 28 February.
This comes after two new Covid-19 community cases that could not be directly linked to earlier cases.
The Prime Minister said Cabinet would assess the alert levels, but it was likely that Auckland would remain in Alert Level 3 for the full seven days.
Basketball in Auckland at Alert Level 3?
- This Alert Level means organised basketball is suspended, as the Government requires everyone to stay in their household bubble. Further Government requirements under Alert 3 can be found here.
- This Government page offers advice on how to exercise at different Alert Levels. This is also a good time to remind our community about our home hoops workouts that were created during lockdown last year.
Rest of NZ operating under Alert 2:
Basketball New Zealand’s stance remains the same as it did in September 2020 when we issued guidance around basketball and hosting tournaments at Alert 2.
We are supportive of events if they are held in line with the intentions of the Government’s Alert Level Guidelines and where strong health and safety precautions to combat the spread of COVID-19 are applied.
If operating at Alert Level 2, basketball providers should proceed with caution and remember:
- Hosts should not operate events with gatherings of over 100 people. The Government limit on total gatherings at Alert Level 2 is 100. This requirement is to decrease the chance of spread. In case there is some confusion about how this rule should be applied, Basketball New Zealand is clear in our view, as is School Sport NZ and Sport NZ view that was given to us last September: The 100-person limit applies to the whole event. For example, it is not ok to operate an event over two venues with separate gatherings, then cross teams over later in the event for final rounds thereby creating new sets of 100 to do so. This would be an attempt to ‘work around’ the COVID-19 restrictions, it is risky and unsafe, and not in keeping with the intentions of the Government’s guidelines.
- It may help to read this webpage outlining considerations if operating under the mass gathering restrictions of 100.
- Should Auckland go from Alert Level 3 to Alert Level 2.5 like it did last year, it’s a timely reminder that Government Alert Level requirements say that if anyone is travelling to an event or meeting, they are expected to carry their home Alert Level with them.
Further reminders:
- Ensure you are meeting the contract tracing and hygiene requirements as outlined on the Government’s COVID-19 website.
- If you have questions about sports operations at alert levels, please first refer to Sport New Zealand’s Alert guidance here.
- Further Sport NZ guidance on how to manage day to day activities and events as part of pandemic planning and operational management can be found here.
- The Government’s COVID-19 website can be found here.
- All our COVID-19 Updates are available here.
