Media Release: West Tamar Council Action on COVID-19

Tuesday, 17 March 2020

SUBJECT:

West Tamar Council Action on COVID-19

FROM:

Mayor, Christina Holmdahl

DATE:

        Tuesday 17th March, 2020

The risk of contracting COVID-19 in Tasmania through person to person transmission continues to increase, and the safety and well-being of staff, Councillors, volunteers and the community, is our top priority.

As and when person to person transmission does occur, we need to ensure we are operating in a way which keeps people as safe as possible, and reduces the spread in our workplace and the wider community, while still providing essential Council services. To be clear, essential services means only services that support public health and safety, statutory obligations and emergency response.

By starting the implementation of a Council wide response to the COVID-19 threat immediately, we can do so in a progressive and orderly manner.

In the interests of staff and volunteer safety, the Tamar Visitor Information Centre, the Beaconsfield Mine and Heritage Centre, and the Exeter Works Depot have been closed to the public until further notice. The Riverside Swimming Centre will also be closed as of 10am Wednesday 18th March 2020.

All non-essential meetings and events have been cancelled including Youth Services, Local Area Advisory Groups, Special Committees of Council, Seniors’ Advisory and Youth Advisory Committees.

Whilst we haven’t yet had the opportunity to directly contact all of our user groups, we will be providing recommendations on the safest possible actions to protect themselves from COVID-19. This is likely to include suggestions from reduced use of facilities, through to closures.

We appreciate this is a difficult time but we genuinely have the best interests of our staff, volunteers and the community, at the forefront of our minds in taking this action.

This is a rapidly changing situation and we will continue to update these measures as things progress.

Contact:

Christina Holmdahl, Mayor – 0417 804 210