All Taupō District Council community facilities to close
All Taupō District Council community facilities will be closed from tomorrow, Tuesday 24 March, until further notice, as a precaution to slow the spread of COVID-19.
This includes all libraries, pools, recreation and events centres, community halls, customer service centres across the district, the Superloo and the Taupō Museum. This means no public access to these facilities, with all activities cancelled until further notice.
Last week, council closed a number of its facilities and cancelled close-contact activities across the board. However, chief executive Gareth Green said these additional closures are necessary to further support the Government’s efforts to fight COVID-19.
“With the number of cases rising daily, it’s important we do whatever we can to slow the spread of COVID-19 in our communities. The closure of our well-used community facilities is one way we can do this.
“This step supports the Government’s message urging people to practice physical distancing (being two metres away from one another) and helps to keep our staff healthy as well as the wider community.
“We are bolstering our call centre to handle queries over the phone. We’re also encouraging people to head to our website or use our council-app Antenno where you can lodge a request from your mobile phone.
“Our parks and other open spaces will remain open, including cemeteries, but we urge people to ensure they are at least two metres away from others,” he said.
“We will be continuing to review these closures daily as the situation continues to change very quickly.
Mayor David Trewavas said the district-wide closure of community facilities was an unprecedented but essential step to protect the community.
“Our staff, our community and our country’s health must come first. If we can help to support the fight against COVID-19 we must do that – now.
“I am proud to call the Taupō District home and I know we will do everything we can as a community to support each other to get through these challenging and uncertain times,” he said.
The specific facilities closed are:
- Taupō, Turangi and Mangakino libraries
- AC Baths and Turtle Pools
- Great Lakes Centres
- Events Centre
- Rockwall
- Fitness Studio
- Superloo
- Turangi, Taupō and Mangakino Customer Service Centres
- All community halls
For the most up to date information from council you can head to taupo.govt.nz/covid-19 or head to our Facebook page.