News

Omicron spreads to Hawkes Bay primary

<h2>Four primary schoolchildren in Havelock North tested positive for Covid-19&comma; Hawkes Bay DHB confirmed this week&period;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>In a statement on Monday&comma; the DHB said all four children from Te Mata Primary School were being treated as Omicron cases&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Hawke’s Bay DHB has been advised&comma; today&comma; of four confirmed cases of COVID-19 amongst Te Mata Primary School students&comma; Havelock North&period; The cases are being treated as if they are the Omicron variant of COVID-19&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;The school and the families of the children have all been notified and are following public health advice&period; There are a number of close contacts associated with these cases&comma; who are being followed up by public health&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The DHB said it is working closely with the school and Ministry of Education and further information would be provided in Ministry of Health’s updates&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;The school will remain open for on-site learning for those not impacted&period; Students and close contacts self isolating will have access to distance learning&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said the DHB in Monday&&num;8217&semi;s statement&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Principal Patrice O&&num;8217&semi;Connor told One News that the school was well-prepared for the possibility of Covid cases arising within the school community and her school was able to act swiftly to put into place its plans&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Advice for testing for people connected to the Te Mata Primary School cases was issued&comma; with anyone concerned they may be a contact or with symptoms told to go the a testing clinic open at Splash Planet from Tuesday 8 February&comma; between the hours of 10am &&num;8211&semi; 3pm&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The DHB reiterated the plea for syptomatic people to get tested&period; &&num;8220&semi;Anyone who has cold or flu like symptoms&comma; no matter how mild&comma; should <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;ourhealthhb&period;nz&sol;community-services&sol;current-public-health-warnings-and-alerts&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">get tested<&sol;a> and isolate until they receive a negative test result&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Te Mata Primary School was remaining open for on-site learning for those not impacted&comma; while students and close contacts self isolating will have access to distance learning&comma; according to the DHB&&num;8217&semi;s statement&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As of Tuesday 8 February&comma; there were currently no <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;health&period;govt&period;nz&sol;our-work&sol;diseases-and-conditions&sol;covid-19-novel-coronavirus&sol;covid-19-health-advice-public&sol;contact-tracing-covid-19&sol;covid-19-contact-tracing-locations-interest" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">locations of interest<&sol;a> in Havelock North&comma; and just two in Hastings &&num;8211&semi; a Carls Jr restaurant visited on January 28 and McDonald&&num;8217&semi;s visited on January 26&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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Heather Barker Vermeer

Heather has worked as a journalist, writer and editor in England and Aotearoa New Zealand for over 20 years. She fell in love with words when she received a 'Speak & Spell' tech toy for Christmas in 1984.

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