Coronavirus: Parents asked not to send kids to school who have visited China
In a bid to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus, parents of all children who have been to China in the last two weeks are being asked not to send their kids to school or daycare.
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Parents of all children who have been in China in the last two weeks are being asked not to send their kids to school or daycare.
Students in primary school, secondary schools, TAFEs and preschools have been asked to stay at home to prevent potential spread of the deadly coronavirus.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard made the extraordinary voluntary request on Tuesday in response to concerns about the 14 day incubation period for the deadly disease despite advice there are “no apparent risks” to children if they return to school.
“The accepted advice, understood advice, from both the federal health authorities and the state health authorities is that there are no apparent risks to those children if they were to return to our school or, indeed, to other children in the school,” he said.
“But this is one of those really difficult times when elected officials have to weigh up all the evidence and this has not been easy.
“We’re going to ask those parents, I stress “ask those parents”, to do what everybody else has been doing so well in this difficult time, and that is to support the community by holding back your children from going to each one of those facilities.”
Mr Hazzard said the two week period was decided based on the latest medical advice.
“While the situation has been unfolding, worldwide there have been some different reports around the capacity to pass on the coronavirus or to have – to actually get the virus in a particular period of usually zero to 14 days,” he said.
“We all know that patient – people who are asymptomatic – that is, they have no symptoms – we have accepted there is a period of somewhere between two and 14 days to actually determine whether or not you do actually have the Coronavirus.
“That reflects the science of the medicine, although it is a bit difficult to be precise.”
Mr Hazard’s request comes after a number of petitions have been launched with parents from one school on the north shore calling for the classes to be delayed until at least February 17.
There are now five confirmed cases of the killer virus in Australia with the global death toll now over 100.
Parents at other schools are demanding school leaders implement similar measures.
More than 700 people have signed a petition by a Lindfield Public School parent calling on school management to urge families who recently returned from China to keep their children at home.
A separate campaign by Roseville Public School parents has meanwhile called for the start of the school year to be pushed back by three weeks to February 17.
The petition stated a delayed start date would give parents “time to understand the situation better” and “avoid unnecessary panic”.
“It is known that there are a reasonable number of families are returning from China before school starts next week (and)the chance of a potential outbreak of this Coronavirus in the school highly concerns to all the children and staff, no matter how small the odd is,” the petition states.
Petitions have also been started by parents at Hurstville Public and Epping West Public schools calling for a delay to the school term.
The petitions had been signed by more than 8900 people as of Tuesday morning and also included calls for the Department of Education to distribute “masks, hand sanitisers and soaps” to teachers and students.
At Willoughby Public School, parents were sent notifications via the SkoolBag app on Monday urging staff and students with respiratory illnesses to remain at home.
The Lindfield Public P&C declined to comment on the petition but said parents have taken up their concerns with the school’s principal.
One Ryde mother, Wendy Woo, started a petition rallying Ryde and Eastwood parents to demand action from principals.
“I worry most because the coronavirus is so contagious and can stay in the body for 14 days without any symptoms,” she said.
“I know many families went back to China for the Lunar New Year and will return this weekend. They may not know they have caught the disease.”
Coronavirus can affect both humans and animals with the latest outbreak coronavirus (2019-nCoV) originating from Wuhan in China’s Hubei Province.
While it hasn’t been confirmed if the new version of the virus comes from an animal, the infection can spread from person-to-person transmission and can take up to 14 days for symptoms to show after infection, the Department of Health said.
Symptoms include a fever, cough, sore throat, nausea and difficulty breathing.
An email sent to Scots College parents on Monday morning called for students who travelled to China recently, both boarding and day students, to get a medical clearance.
They are then to get another check up at the college clinic become returning to school.
The college has also cancelled its Chinese New Year celebrations on Friday at the college as a “precautionary measure”.
“If you have not visited China during the holidays, you should feel confident to send your child to school unless they have any flu-like symptoms in which case as with any other virus you should keep your son/s at home until the symptoms have cleared,” according to the email.
Kincoppal Rose Bay principal Maureen Ryan also sent an email yesterday morning asking parents to notify the school if their child or family has recently visited China and contact the school.
Parents of those students have been asked to go to their doctors and receive a medical clearance before sending their day and boarding students back to school.
Principal of Redlands, Stephen Webber, said the school wanted to take a more “cautious” approach.
Parents with concerns can contact their local Public Health Unit on 1300 066 055 for advice or visit health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/diseases/Pages/coronavirus.aspx