Parents are being reassured it is safe for children to go back to school after attendance dropped to 50 percent at some South Auckland schools.
File photo. Photo: parinya agsararattananont/ 123rf
Auckland Regional Public Health Service has sent out a letter saying schools and early learning services are not linked with significant spread of Covid-19.
Aorere College Principal Greg Pierce, who chairs the AimHi group of nine low-decile schools in South Auckland, said attendance was lower as students returned to school this week than after the last lockdown.
Over the past two days in level 2, three Auckland schools averaged about 50 percent attendance, Pierce said.
Some schools recorded 80 percent attendance on the second day or both days, he said.
Auckland Regional Public Health Service told parents that children could catch and transmit the virus, but Covid-19 did not infect or affect children and teens in the same way it did adults.
"Unless you have been close to someone who has been confirmed with Covid, it is very unlikely you or your child is at risk of infection. If we think your child has been close to someone confirmed with Covid, Auckland Regional Public Health Service will contact you directly," the letter from the service said.
The message echoes a plea from Education Minister Chris Hipkins.
Auckland Secondary Schools Association president Steve Hargreaves said he was pleased to see 93 percent attendance at Macleans College, where he is principal, but there was a lot of nervousness in the South Auckland community about going back to school.
"Each family has to make up their own mind on do they think it's safe or not. You can't force people to come back," he said.
"Even if we rounded them up and put them on a bus and brought them to school, they wouldn't be in a fit state to be around others, to concentrate in class."
He said the focus should be on supporting students to learn remotely from home.
