Covid 19 coronavirus: Mt Albert Grammar advances in the evaluation of all students and teachers

An Auckland school that was asked to have all of its 3,000 students and staff screened for Covid-19 recovered most of its results.

Everyone at Mt Albert Grammar School was asked to take the test after two students tested positive under different circumstances.

A spokesperson for the Northern Region Health Coordination Center (NRHCC) said that as of 5pm today, labs in the greater Auckland area had logged around 2,100 tests from Mt Albert Grammar students and staff.

“More than 95 percent have been processed and all are negative”,

The Auckland Regional Public Health Service (ARPHS) asked staff and students to get tested at any community testing center, as a precautionary measure, to identify undiagnosed cases.

The first case at the school was that of a teenager linked to a family that was one of the first identified in the Auckland group, which has now become the largest in New Zealand, on August 12.

The student showed up for classes on Monday before a region-wide lockdown, unaware that he was infected.

The second student tested positive Thursday and is believed to have been contagious between August 5 and 11.

Other students or staff were feared to have contracted the virus during that time and those who had not been tested since Aug. 17 were asked to do so.

However, in his newsletter on Friday, Principal Patrick Drumm said the school will reopen on Monday even if the results are not available to all students by then.

A sports team from St Cuthbert’s College played against a team from Mt Albert Grammar on August 6.

All seven players had been evaluated, but as of yesterday, only five had their results. They were all negative.

Director Justine Mahon said the Health Ministry reported that the seven members of the sports team are considered close contacts of a player from the opposing team who tested positive for the virus.

He said that St Cuthbert’s would not reopen until the remaining two players had received the test results.

The Education Ministry ordered all state and integrated schools in Auckland state to reopen for all students on Monday, but Mahon said private schools have “more freedom.”

“I think there is a difference between low risk and no risk, so I am waiting to hear from the last two families,” he previously told the Herald.