Dear fellow Scouting members,
Following the President’s announcement on Monday evening, we have revised the Level 1 COVID Regulations to accommodate the changes issued by the Government. Find the new updated rules here.
In summary, the effective changes made to the regulations are as follows:
- Subject to the available space to permit appropriate social distancing, the maximum number of participants in an indoor activity is now limited to 100.
- Subject to the available space to permit appropriate social distancing, the maximum number of participants in an outdoor activity event is now limited to 250.
- We have included a requirement to comply with the curfew measures applicable in your Region.
- We have included the following rules in respect of gazetted hot spots:
- No Scouting activities may take place in a municipal district that is identified in the Government Gazette as a COVID “hot spot”, and no members resident in any such identified “hot spot” may partake in a Scouting activity. These prohibitions will remain in place until the municipal district is removed from the gazetted lists of COVID “hot spots”.
- We are recommending that, following the wise example of the Western Cape, the Regional leadership teams consider the suspension of all Scouting activities in a Region once a municipal district in the Region is gazetted as a “hot spot”. If you have activities planned in areas within the Region, but outside of any declared “hot spots”, a thorough evaluation of the risk should be completed prior to the decision to continue with such activities.
- It is the Compliance Officer’s duty to inform all “close contacts” of a positive case. Where there were no “close contacts”, all participant in the activity should be informed by the Compliance Officer to ensure they monitor for symptoms.
All other rules for Scouting activities under Level 1 remain as previously issued.
We will continue to closely monitor the developments of the Government regulations and risk profiles across the country. We are engaging with the Regional Teams on planned activities to ensure that where possible, and safe to do so, we continue Scouting to the greatest extent possible. Regrettably, the surge in infection numbers may cause the cancellation or postponement of some activities to ensure the safety of our members and their families.
I would also like to take this opportunity to urge all of our members both during and outside of our activities to continue to comply with the 3D’s (Dosage, Distance and Dispersion), to wear your masks and to maintain social distancing to prevent the spread of the virus to the greatest extent possible.
Have a safe and blessed festive season.
Brendon Hausberger
Chief Scout
More information about COVID-19 can be found here: https://sacoronavirus.co.za/