COVID-19 UPDATE: 16 February 2022

Kia ora SAE whānau

It has been such a pleasure seeing so many staff and students on campus this week. How wonderful to have our campus feeling so vibrant again!

A reminder that under RED, some of your classes are on campus whilst others are online. Keep an eye on your Slack channels for details about whether you need to come to SAE or attend via Zoom.

Now that we have some classes back on campus, I’d like to outline the work that SAE has been doing in preparation for dealing with the highly transmissible COVID-19 Omicron variant.

In general, SAE has been taking a precautionary approach to dealing with COVID. Our aim is to minimize the chance of Omicron reaching our campus by enforcing a vaccination requirement, ensuring all staff, students and visitors are physically distanced and wearing masks at all times, and by reducing the number of classes on campus on any given day. We’ve also installed HEPA air filtration units across studios and have regular cleaning of the campus including sanitising high touch areas and using air sanitisers. Should Omicron reach our shores, we are well prepared to swing into action.

The attached procedures show you what happens should you test positive to COVID-19 or if you are identified as a Close Contact.

Hopefully the step-by-step guidelines are fairly self-explanatory. Key points to remember are:

Any staff or students who test positive to COVID-19 should contact me
Any students who are identified as a Close Contact should contact Student Support
Any staff who are identified as a Close Contact should contact me

Either myself or Student Support can then lead you through the steps we need to take. Our contact details are in the attached documents.

Please continue to show the kindness and aroha that our SAE community is renowned for. By continuing to offer care and support to each other, along with the health and safety measures we’ve put in place, SAE Auckland is well placed to face Omicron. As a reminder of those health and safety measures, I’ve also reattached our RED Safety Protocols.

If you have any questions about the attached procedures, or any general queries about our COVID-19 response at SAE, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me on s.major@sae.edu

Ngā mihi nui,

Suzette

Dr Suzette Major

Campus Director, SAE AUCKLAND