The whole of the South Island will move to the orange level when the new traffic light system kicks in on Friday.
"At the orange level, only people who have been double vaccinated and have the official My Vaccine Pass will be allowed to use many of the council’s public facilities," said city council chief executive Dawn Baxendale.
"We are taking our responsibility seriously to protect our staff and our communities as we transition to living with Covid-19."
Under the orange and green lights, if vaccine passes are not used to enter a public facility, it will be limited to 50 people. Public facilities and retail venues will still have capacity limits but if vaccination passes are used there will be no gathering limits.
"If we decided not to use the My Vaccine Pass, we would have to restrict number of people using our facilities to 50 people at a time," Baxendale said.
"By requiring people to present vaccine passports, we can let more people use our facilities, but in busy peak period we may reach capacity limits."
The requirement for vaccine certificates at council facilities will not apply to those aged under 12.
"We have a very high vaccination rates in our city so most residents will be able to continue to use our facilities as usual," Baxendale said.
"There are some people who are not vaccinated and therefore will be unable to access our facilities until we move to Green on the traffic light system.
"For these people we are looking at alternative ways of providing them with access to our services.
"We have shown through previous lockdowns that we can use online channels to deliver a wide range of services remotely, including gym classes and library resources, including click and collect.
"When we move to the new traffic light system on Friday, it is important that people continue to use the NZ COVID tracer app to scan into places. We have high vaccination rates in our district, but we cannot afford to let our guard down. We still need to take the threat of the virus seriously and do all that we can to protect the at-risk.’’
From Friday (December 3), people visiting:
- Recreation centres, including indoor pools: Will need to wear a mask and show their vaccine certificate on entry.
- Libraries: Will need to wear a mask and have a vaccine certificate.
- Christchurch Art Gallery and Akaroa Museum: Will need to wear a mask and have a vaccine certificate.
- The Civic Offices and Customer Service Centres: Will need to wear a mask and have a vaccine certificate.
- Transfer stations: Will need to wear a mask. Vaccine certificates will not be required. One metre social distancing is encouraged.
Events at council facilities will be able to proceed with no limit on gathering numbers if vaccine certificates are used. If vaccine certificates are not used, a maximum of 50 people will be allowed to attend.
Public toilets, playgrounds, parks, cemeteries, wharves and jetties will be open as normal.
At the orange level, building inspectors, alcohol licencing, dog control and other environmental services officers will wear masks as required. Sites who require proof of vaccine from these council workers are asked to communicate this when making their bookings.
People wanting to attend council or community board meetings will need to be double vaccinated. If they are not, they will need to arrange to attend the meeting by audio-visual link. City council meetings will continue to be live-streamed.
- A full list of council facilities and how they will operate under the traffic light system can be found here.
