Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) in high demand at Taupō's Great Lake Centre

A long-serving Taupō librarian is directing traffic at Story Place.

It's a sign of the times when Taupō District Council staff are deployed into a completely different type of occupation.

This morning, Kevin Collins stepped out of the library and into the street by the Great Lake Centre, to assist people driving to pick up their pre-ordered rapid antigen tests (RATs).

In 2017, Kevin marked 15 years of service as a Taupō librarian and this morning he was doing his bit to help out with council operations due to a staff shortage.

It's the second day the pre-ordered RATs have been available and there was such a high demand on day one that traffic management had cars circling in the Tongariro North Domain.

Taupō chief executive Gareth Green says with Omicron cases continuing to rise in the community, the council's services and facilities will likely be affected as positive cases and self-isolation situations inevitably arise.

"Our staff and contractors are impacted by Covid-19 restrictions in the same way that our communities are, and as cases rise this will start having an impact on the services and facilities we provide for our communities.

"We are doing our best to be agile and are already seeing some of these effects at our facilities, but please bear with us as it may be at short notice that our services change or facilities close or amend their operations due to staff numbers," Gareth says.

Facilities (including libraries, the Events Centre, Great Lake Centre, Owen Delany Park, museum and pools) may close or amend their operations at short notice because of a Covid-19 positive situation or because staff are self-isolating. Programmes may also be reduced.

Rubbish and recycling kerbside collection may be affected as drivers and sorters may be required to self-isolate. The priority is to ensure rubbish collection continues as normal so while recycling is still collected, on some occasions, this may be required to go to landfill.

If you would prefer to do so, you can continue to stockpile it until services resume.

Bus services may also need to amend their schedule if drivers need to self-isolate.

"We all really appreciate your understanding as we work through the continuing rise in cases. We will be focused on providing our critical services to our communities while keeping our staff and community safe," Gareth says.

Changes to council services may be at short notice so updates will be provided via Facebook, council app Antenno, the council e-Newsletter and website as well as through local media.

Rapid antigen tests (RATs) can be ordered and then collected at the Great Lake Centre, Taupō.

The RATs are for people with Covid-19 symptoms or who are a household contact, critical workers who are household contacts, and border workers who are required to be tested under the Required Testing Order.

Before going to a collection site, you must place an order via https://requestrats.covid19.health.nz/ OR free call 0800222478