Libraries, pools and other places affected
Venkat Raman, Auckland, March 20, 2020
All swimming pools, public libraries and many other facilities in Auckland will be shut down for two weeks from this evening as a step towards prevention of the spread of Covid-19.
Regional Facilities Auckland owned theatres and conventions spaces including the Civic, Herald Theatre, Kiri Te Kanawa Theatres in Aotea Centre, Auckland Town Hall. Bruce Mason Centre,
Shed 10, the Cloud, Maritime Museum, Art Gallery and recreational centres will also be closed during this period.
There will be no fines on overdue library items while the closures are in place.
Auckland Council is reviewing its wider network of community facilities, including community centres, community art galleries and venues for hire, to ensure that from Monday, March 23, 2020, these only support classes, activities, programmes and events that allow for social distancing within government guidelines.
Some exemptions
The Auckland Zoo will remain open as an open-air venue, as it can meet the Health Ministry’s requirement of a maximum of 500 people. However, group activities, such as daily animal keeper talks will be suspended.
Mount Smart, Western Springs and North Harbour stadiums will also be open for outdoor activities that comply with Health Ministry’s recommendations.
At Aotea Centre, the Box Café and the foyer area will remain stay open for community activities, with safe social distancing in place.
Auckland War Memorial Museum stays open.
This will not affect water collection services currently provided to drought-affected areas.
Important and necessary
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff said that the decision was made with regret, but it was both important and necessary.
“Our main concern is to protect people’s health and wellbeing and we are limiting large crowd interactions where the chance of virus spread is high. Our 55 libraries across Auckland receive over 250,000 visits a week, while there are 200,000 visits a week to our swimming pools and leisure centres. The services that we are closing are highly used and much loved by our communities, but these are not services which have to be maintained to provide the necessities of life,” he said.
Mr Goff said that the situation will be reviewed after two weeks and the reopening of these facilities will be subject to the evolution of Covid-19 and advice of the federal government.
Government recommendations
“Our actions follow the recommendations from the government around the need to keep public gatherings, wherever possible, below 100 people indoors. Maintaining social distancing in a library is difficult and I am conscious that many library users are older people more vulnerable to the impact of COVID-19. This is a great opportunity for people to sign up for our e-lending services like audiobooks, video streaming services and learning databases like Lynda.com,” he said.
Mr Goff said that the closure of the facilities will not affect full or part time staff.
“We will look at how they may be able to assist in other areas such as support for District Health Boards, where pressures may grow if the impact of COVID-19 worsens,” he said.
