Students sent home as boys' schools detect new covid cases

Tuesday 10 November 2020

Parents of children in one year group at De La Salle primary school were asked to collect their children yesterday afternoon and to remain at home isolating after one boy tested positive for covid.

One student from Victoria College secondary school was also confirmed as having the virus.

His year group was asked to stay at home yesterday as a "precautionary measure to allow the testing process to be completed."

A spokesperson for the Department for Children, Young People, Education and Skills said: "Students will continue their education through online learning, from home, while in isolation.

"The schools and colleges will remain open following advice from Environmental and Public Health.

"To protect the identity of the students and respect the family's privacy, we will not be commenting further."

Pictured: A spokesperson said online learning would continue.

The cases have been detected amid a spate at local private schools.

Last week, the Government urged sixth formers from JCG, Victoria College, De La Salle and Beaulieu to get tested for the virus when several cases were picked up among the Year 12 and 13 population.

On Friday, the Chief Minister fired a warning at teens, saying that a recent rise in covid clusters had largely been driven by young people partying and socialising.

He went on to describe the island as being at a "critical" point in the pandemic, teetering on the brink of a potential lockdown.

According to Senator John Le Fondré, interviews conducted through the contact tracing process revealed that “physical contact between friends, between boyfriends and girlfriends, and the sharing of drinks and vapes, is leading to the spread of the virus among younger and asymptomatic carriers.”

Pictured: Young people were said to have had a "significant" impact on covid spread in the community. 

He said: “We are now seeing cases that we can trace back to Halloween parties and this is particularly troubling, given the number of warnings we issued about keeping safe during that holiday.

“I want to address all young people in Jersey directly and say simply and starkly: you can catch covid-19 and if you do, you will spread it to your friends and family.

“You may not have symptoms, but you could infect someone that will. 

“While your lives may not be at high risk from covid-19, that of your family, and especially your older relatives is. 

“Please think how devastating it would be for you, and your family, if you were to infect your grandmother or grandfather and, worse still, lead to their deaths.”

According to the latest Government figures, there are 115 covid cases officially recorded in the island.

18 individuals have recovered and 30 new cases have been identified: eight from inbound travel, 12 through contact tracing, five through planned workforce screening, two while individuals were seeking healthcare, two from admissions screening, and one was identified as an “old” case, no longer active at time of detection.

57 individuals are symptomatic and 58 cases are not displaying symptoms. No one is in hospital with the virus.