Covid 19 Omicron outbreak: Auckland's Takapuna Grammar and Pt Chevalier schools - masks compulsory after cases surge
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- 20 May 2022
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Two Auckland schools are reverting back to compulsory mask-wearing in classrooms, one after several students and staff involved with a school production tested positive.
Masks must be worn in class at Takapuna Grammar from Monday and returned to use in Pt Chevalier School's year 4 to 6 classrooms - with years 1 to 3 also encouraged to mask up - this week.
It'll be compulsory for students and staff to wear masks while in class, indoors and on buses, Takapuna Grammar principal Mary Nixon told parents in a newsletter today.
"There is no apparent spread of Covid in classes or while at school but there are several staff and students involved in the school production Mamma Mia who have tested positive for Covid.
"The total of staff and students currently testing positive for Covid is 6.9 per cent and household contacts is 3.9 per cent."
Point Chevalier School principal Stephen Lethbridge said the decision was made to bring back compulsory mask-wearing in class for all year 4 to 6 students after noticing cases at the school and in the community were significantly increasing.
"We think it is prudent that we make sure we keep staff and kids as safe as possible," Lethbridge said.
"We've noticed that we've got significantly more cases around the school and community this week than we did last week and the week before and that's in line with growing cases across the Auckland region."
Lethbridge believed other schools had already taken or were in the process of taking a similar approach.
Schools knew their communities best, the Ministry of Education said in response to the schools' decision.
"[Schools] are therefore best placed to make decisions that prioritise the safety and wellbeing of their students, teachers and support staff."
The move comes as experts said there was an "urgent need for Covid-19 action plans for schools".
University of Otago Wellington's Dr Amanda Kvalsvig, professor Michael Baker, Dr Jennifer Summers, Dr Lucy Telfar Barnard, Dr Julie Bennett, Carmen Timu-Parata, professor Nick Wilson and Massey University's Dr Andrew Dickson made the call in a blog posted online today.
"At the onset of the Omicron outbreak in Aotearoa New Zealand in early 2022, the Government announced a policy for schools that was essentially a business-as-usual approach, advising that schools would stay open through the outbreak", they wrote.
"However, protections to prevent Covid-19 transmission were incomplete and there have been significant adverse consequences for school communities."
Data from the Ministry of Health shows that 42 per cent, or 238, of schools in Auckland had Covid-19 cases reported in the past seven days. Read More…
