Students told to stay away from school amid growing coronavirus fears

Health officials in NSW have responded to concerns from parents and the community over coronavirus, ramping up their response.

NSW health officials have doubled down on their Australian response to the deadly coronavirus.

After concern from parents and the community, they have revised advice on the return to school tomorrow.

Previously they had said that any family that had been to the Hubei province in China see a doctor immediately, but now they are asking anyone who’s been on holiday to the country that has not been back for 14 days to keep kids from school.

Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the government was aware there had been “some concern” in the community.

“We will be asking parents who may have holidayed with their children and not yet been out of China for 14 days, then 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,” he said.

Students at dozens of schools across the country have been told to stay away until they have been cleared by a doctor amid growing fears about the spread of the coronavirus.

The Government’s current medical advice, at both federal and state level, is to allow students who have not shown symptoms or had any contact with a confirmed case to attend school.

But a number of schools are not taking any chances and defying that advice.

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Today Tony Farley, the executive director of Sydney Catholic Schools – a body that administers 152 schools – sent a letter to parents and principals advising that any students who have visited China since December will be required to obtain a doctor’s certificate to return to class.

“If you have visited China anytime in December to now, please refrain from sending your children to school until they have been checked and cleared by a doctor,” Mr Farley wrote, saying Sydney Catholic Schools was prioritising “the health and welfare” of its students.

The Australian reports elite private schools in both Sydney and Melbourne are telling students who recently travelled to China to stay home for at least a fortnight.

And some boarding schools, including a prestigious one in Brisbane, are isolating Chinese students in separate living areas and requiring them to undergo daily medical tests.

Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan stuck to the Government’s line this morning, urging schools to follow the official advice.

“Individual schools make their own decisions but the advice from the Australian Government is to follow our medical advice,” he told ABC Radio.

“We want to make sure that we continue to send a message that Australia is open for international students.”

Meanwhile, multiple petitions are circulating online, with some parents actively pushing for their schools to keep children who recently returned from China at home.

“For the safety of the wider school community, I would like to ask Epping West Public School management, working together with NSW Health and the NSW Education Department, to enforce the policy of requesting families recently returned from China to keep their families at home isolated for two weeks before attending school,” reads one of the petitions.

At least 106 people have died from the coronavirus in China and more than 4000 cases have been confirmed across the country.

China’s National Health Commission says the incubation period for the virus can range from one-to-14 days, during which infection can occur.

Yesterday a fifth case was confirmed in Australia. A 21-year-old Chinese student who had flown on a direct flight from Wuhan to Sydney on January 22 presented herself to hospital when she noticed symptoms.

“The student did not attend any classes at the university and stayed on her own in campus accommodation with no close contact before she was admitted to hospital,” a spokeswoman for the University of NSW said.

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There are fears for another 10 people, with six cases being investigated in NSW and four in Western Australia.

And Australian authorities are looking at the possibility of repatriating people from the virus-hit Chinese city Wuhan.

The Government is trying to deploy officials to the city, where around 400 Australian citizens have registered for evacuation.

“Right now the Australian Government, through our embassy, is looking to deploy, working with Chinese government consular officials, into Hubei province, into Wuhan,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said today.

“We’re working closely with the states and territories and we’ll continue to do that to keep Australians safe.

“But I would encourage Australians to go about their business, to understand and listen to the advice that’s being received.”

The situation is not being helped by misinformation circulating on social media.

Yesterday Queensland MP Duncan Pegg slammed a fake media release that had been floating around, pretending to be from Queensland Department of Health.

The fake release claimed there was a “level 3 health warning” for the coronavirus and advised people to stay away from “all populated areas with Chinese nationals of ratio of 1 to 3 non-Chinese Australians”.

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“For someone to make light of this, and to put out this racist, fake media release, effectively misinforms the community and causes a lot of fear and anxiety,” Mr Pegg told the ABC, calling the fake message “racist”.

This media release is 100% FAKE!!! FAKE!!! FAKE!!! I don't normally like to give any credence to ppl who seek to malign our community but wanted to make things clear this time.

To get latest updates go to the Queensland Health website & FB page. Any questions call 13HEALTH. pic.twitter.com/mIW2XVKTH7

— Duncan Pegg MP (@DuncanPeggMP) January 27, 2020

No one in Queensland has been diagnosed with the virus. Four tests there have come back negative. Of the five confirmed Australian cases, four are in NSW and one is in Victoria.

Another fake release, this one citing the non-existent NSW “Bureau of Diseasology”, is doing the rounds on Facebook.

2/2 Further, there is no such entity as the “Department of Diseasology Parramatta”.

NSW Health would like to assure the community that the locations mentioned in this post pose no risk to visitors, and there have been no “positive readings” at train stations.

— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) January 28, 2020

It tells Sydney residents to avoid certain train stations and suburbs “as air tested positive for virus”. It also includes a bizarre list of products it falsely says are “known to have traces” of the virus, such as rice, fortune cookies, iced tea and Wagyu beef.

NSW Health has issued a statement in response clarifying that the locations mentioned “pose no risk to visitors”.