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A Covid-19 testing station installed at a South Auckland school was flooded today after a student tested positive for the virus.
Chapel Downs Elementary School.
Photo: google maps
An asymptomatic boy briefly attended Chapel Downs School near Botany on Monday morning, before the family knew the student had the virus.
The infected child was at school from 8.30 am to 9 am Monday morning before being picked up by his family.
The school has now been closed for a deep cleaning and everyone who was present at the school on Monday morning is advised to stay away from people outside of their bubble until they are tested and receive a negative result.
A “very small” number had been determined to be close contacts, but ARPHS did not specify any numbers.
There was a two-day delay at school to discover that the student had tested positive after attending school.
Today, a line of cars lined the road in front of the school’s entrance to reach the testing clinic on the school grounds.
Beverley Taoho, leader of the Whānau Ora Community Testing Clinic, said staff completed 95 tests between 9:30 am and 12:30 pm today.
Taoho said some people were diverted to a nearby clinic in Wiri due to the delay.
The people who came today were tense, he said.
“Anxious, scared, worried, everything.”
Students, their families, neighbors and people in the community were among those who came for an exam, he said.
Taoho says the clinic was “absolutely prepared” for the influx.
“We have been here since April, so we are well prepared. We have evolved over time to improve our practices,” he said.
Some parents have been angry because they were not informed that the student tested positive earlier.
A grandmother waiting with her grandchildren for a test was concerned that the virus could have spread due to the delay.
“It’s been two days and everyone from this school would have gone everywhere. So from here, [we have to] try to contain the group from here now “
Another parent is concerned about the appearance of Covid 19 in their community.
Your children are being tested to make sure they are safe to return to school.
“We’ve seen how bad it can be for people and we’ve also learned from science about the impacts of getting the disease,” he said.
“Better safe than sorry.”
The school’s principal, Vaughan van Rensburg, told RNZ this morning that once the school found out, it acted within minutes to inform the school community.
