Covid 19 coronavirus: the child’s family notified of the positive result minutes after leaving it at school

It is the phone call that no parent wants to receive during a pandemic: confirmation that their child has tested positive for Covid-19.

But it was the reality for the family of a girl who had just dropped out of school less than 10 minutes earlier.

The Health Ministry has released more details about the positive case confirmed by authorities on Monday, giving a schedule of the events leading up to the result and what led to the young man’s school, Chapel Downs Primary, being closed for the rest. of the week.

Laboratory tests for the girl, under the age of 10, were carried out over the weekend and there was a notification of a positive laboratory result at 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

Sunday was also the day the student, a close contact from a previously confirmed case related to the Botanica subgroup, was due to come out of a 14-day isolation, after the home went into quarantine on August 30.

Despite the positive result being discovered on Sunday evening, the positive test was reviewed the next day by the Auckland Regional Public Health Service, where it was compared to the child.

That process was completed and the national database was updated at 8.17am on Monday, most likely because the student, who was asymptomatic, and three other close contacts were on their way to the school.

Just over 20 minutes later, at 8.39 a.m., the girl’s family received a phone call from a medical officer confirming that the test had come back positive.

“This is the date that the Ministry [of Health] it was formally notified and it is the same day we publicly report the case, “said a spokeswoman.

“This timeline means that there was a period on Monday morning when the family would have been unaware of the child’s positive result.

“It was then that the boy, who was asymptomatic, was briefly on the school grounds but was picked up after notification of the result.”

The health authorities discover that two days later the boy had been in school

The ministry spokeswoman said that as soon as the formal notification was received, steps were taken to alert the rest of the family and proper interviews and contact tracing began to take place.

Two days later, on Wednesday morning, ARPHS staff received more information that the affected girl had been at school between 8.30 and 9 a.m. Monday before the family knew she was a positive case.

Chapel Downs Elementary School Principal Vaughan van Rensburg said the school was informed that the positive case was on the school grounds for 30 minutes at 2 p.m. that Wednesday.

“This information was shared as soon as the facts were confirmed on Wednesday and appropriate actions were initiated,” the spokeswoman said.

Yesterday, a call was made to all staff members and students connected to the school to obtain a Covid-19 test as a precautionary measure.

The school has been closed since the positive case was confirmed, so health authorities may contact what they have described as a very small number of people who consider themselves close contacts of the student when she was briefly at school on Monday. .

“The ministry wants to reinforce the recent ARPHS comment: ARPHS has communicated closely with the family to communicate the importance of remaining in self-isolation. The family has been cooperating with Public Health and the members have been evaluated and remained in isolation until this event.”