The Health Minister, Chris Hipkins, updated the nation today on recent developments concerning the “A-Z Employee” case in the Auckland CBD and the “Defence Worker Cluster”.  While there are currently no Alert Level changes, this is a weekend for us to be vigilant and self-check our current processes.  You can watch the full update here.

In particular:

(a) Please reaffirm to our people that if anyone is feeling unwell they should stay home from church, seek Healthline or GP advice and take a COVID test where recommended;

(b) This weekend is a good time to assess your current contact tracing procedures – a good diagnostic question to ask yourelf is: if required, could we provide the Ministry of Health with contact tracing data on Monday?

(c) The Minister noted the importance of the COVID app being readily acessible and available for use – take the time to assess whether this is still the case at your church;

(d) Reinforce the hygeine protocols that are familiar but would benefit from encouragement – now is also a good time to make sure bottles of santiser are full and available.

This will be of particular concern to Auckland churches. However the export of one case to Wellington on the same day (and in 3 cases the same time and place) that Wesleyan Methodists were passing through Auckland Airport on the way to Connexion, should offer a little motivatation as we check our systems and processes.  The Alert Level 1 Guidlines are available here.

In Alert Level 1 we “stay watchful” – I encourage you to take the opportunity to assess your systems and process this weekend as we play our part in Loving Our Neighbours.

Every Blessing

Rev. Brett Jones