The Government’s shift to Orange has paved the way for sweeping changes to life at Otago Uni, including a transition back to “mostly on-campus teaching,” as well as dropping vaccine and mask requirements for most students.
Covid-19 Minister Chris Hipkins announced that Aotearoa will move into the Orange setting from 11:59pm on Wednesday 13 April. Just hours later, the Uni released a student-wide email detailing what these changes would mean for students.
Most prominently, the Uni has announced that they will begin the “transition between mostly online teaching to mostly on-campus teaching” by the end of the mid-semester break. An “interim timetable” will be in place for the first week back (Tuesday 26 - Friday 29 April) to ease the transition. An Orange Level timetable detailing arrangements will become available on Friday 29 April. The announcement added that “teaching staff will continue to give consideration to the needs of students who are unwell, isolating or vulnerable in their teaching delivery” but there was no word on how international students still stuck overseas would be accommodated.
In line with national guidelines, masks will no longer be legally required for most locations on campus, including libraries. However, masks will still need to be worn for visitors to campus shops. The Uni continues to “strongly encourage” staff and students to “wear [a mask] wherever physical distancing is not possible,” saying it’s “clearly shown to reduce the spread of the virus,” and that it “is a simple way for us all to support those who are particularly vulnerable to the virus”.
Vaccine mandates will also be lifted from Monday 2 May. This applies to everyone except staff and students working with “vulnerable populations” or with the Covid virus, Disability Information and Support staff, and other parts where nationwide mandates still apply (e.g. health professional programmes). In issue 7, Critic Te Arohi reported that the Otago University Disabled Students Association had serious concerns about lifting existing restrictions, expressing worries about the risk of spread and the ability for vulnerable students to continue to access learning resources. The Uni stated that they “balanced all the views and data given to us,” for example by delaying the removal of mandates to May, to allow “the current rate of transmission across New Zealand to reduce”. We have not heard from ODSA about how they feel about this news.
Outside campus, the main change from the shift to Orange is the lifting of indoor gathering restrictions. This should pave the way for clubs, gigs, hospo and flat parties to begin running at full capacity again.