COVID-19 20 March update

Published on 20 March 2020

Upper Hutt City Council is continuing to monitor and take advice from the Ministry of Health in regard to the ongoing COVID-19 situation.

All Council facilities remain open.

Please do not visit our premises or attend events of any size if you are unwell, have arrived in New Zealand from another country less than 14 days ago, have been in close contact with someone confirmed with COVID-19 in the last 14 days, or been asked to self-isolate.

H₂O Xtream aquatic centre is suspending all learn to swim classes and flippaball league.

Upper Hutt Libraries is suspending Bops and Tots (normally held Mondays and Wednesdays between 10.30 and 11.00 am) with further programmes likely to be cancelled next week.

Expressions Whirinaki Arts and Entertainment Centre is cancelling or postponing all programmes and events until after 30 June 2020. Please check the Events tab on their website or specific (third party) event websites for cancellations and postponement dates. Expressions Whirinaki will continue to use their website and social media channels to keep the public up to date, monitor advice from the health authorities, and act accordingly.

Events immediately affected by this are:

• Make a Cloud 21 March—Cancelled
• Cheeky, Classy and Quirky  28 March—Cancelled
• Classical Expressions Moller – Fraticelli—Cancelled
• Turn on the Lights 16 April—Cancelled
• Classical Expressions 27 April John Chen—Cancelled
• Austen Found 1 May—Cancelled
• The Queen’s Birthday Music’s festival 28  – 31 May—Cancelled/Some postponed TBA
• Bubbles and Bonnets 17 and 24 May—Cancelled
• Beautiful Balloons 17 May—Cancelled
• Little Expressions from now until end of Term 1—Cancelled
• Sunday Strum 5 April and 3 May—Cancelled
• Expressions Live! 7 April and 12 May—Cancelled
• Late Nite Sound Bite 26 March and 30th April—Cancelled

• The Heritage i-SITE Walking Tour – held every Sunday at 3.00 pm—Cancelled

We reiterate that March Madness Fair which was due to be held on Main Street tomorrow is now cancelled.

Council’s Sister Cities Mesa Youth Ambassadors Programme has been postponed. The programme facilitates a sister city student exchange between Upper Hutt and Mesa, Arizona in the United States. A decision will be made later in the year as to follow-up actions.

Neighbourhood Support is managed and delivered locally by Upper Hutt City Council. We are waiting for messaging and resources from Neighbourhood Support National Office. In the meantime we are planning our response to bring support for already established groups as well as options to help new groups form.

We are coordinating a Hutt Valley-wide approach to support the business community along with Hutt City Council and the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce. A dedicated webpage on huttvalleynz.com has been set up along with an open Facebook group to enable businesses to collaborate and support each other. Businesses can expect to hear from their local council or chamber representative as we approach them to assess needs over the coming weeks.