Mum: Why can school tell us about head lice but not virus?

A pregnant mum who has decided to take her daughter out of a school at the centre of a coronavirus outbreak has questioned the way families were told.

Jade Erskine – who says she will keep six-year-old Kaitlyn at home “until it is safe” – said schools regularly sent children home with letters about head lice, but there was nothing to advise parents about a virus with the potential to cause much more harm.

Like other parents in her area, she learned about the positive case at Newhill School, Blairgowrie, from social media, hours before it and another case connected to Oakbank school in Perth were formally confirmed by NHS Tayside.

“I heard about it on Monday night through my partner’s friend,” she said.

“They had been sent a screenshot of a letter which had been sent home to parents in the affected class.

“I wasn’t sure whether to take it seriously or not, so I emailed the school but still haven’t had any kind of reply.”

She said the news was confirmed on a Facebook group for Newhill parents.

She was “utterly alarmed and distressed” to hear that Kaitlyn had been mixing with other classes.

“I told the school she had lung problems when she was born, and I am pregnant and have been told to shield as much as possible for the safety of my unborn child,” she said.

“I decided on Monday night when I read it there was definitely a case at Newhill that my daughter won’t be returning until it is safe to do so.

“I think it’s shocking we all get an email or letter if a child has head lice, but we don’t get any information for something that could potentially put us or our families at risk.

“Kaitlyn is very upset as she adores school, but I explained how it is safer to be with me and I think she understood – she understands it’s some sort of bug but makes you more sick than a normal one.”

In early August, Perth and Kinross Council’s education director Sheena Devlin announced that worried parents who choose to keep their children off school won’t face punishment.

No new cases of coronavirus have been reported to NHS Tayside in connection with the two pupils who tested positive for the virus at the Perthshire schools.

Dozens of students and teachers have been sent into quarantine. People who were identified as close contacts have been notified and advised to selfisolate for 14 days as a precautionary measure. Guidance is in place from Friday August 14 – the last time they were in contact with the infected children.

Perth and Kinross Council and NHS Tayside released a joint statement shortly before midnight on Monday onto social media informing the general public, but some parents have complained about a lack of direct contact.

A spokesperson for the local authority said: “All parents in the affected classes at both schools were contacted by NHS Tayside on Monday.

“We shared information about the two confirmed cases on our website and social media as soon as was possible, as did NHS Tayside.

“All parents and carers whose children attend Oakbank and Newhill received further information direct by letter from their schools on Tuesday and we will continue to provide them with regular updates.”

Dr Ellie Hothersall of NHS Tayside’s Health Protection Team said: “There continues to be no evidence to suggest that there is any transmission of Covid-19 within either of the schools and the risk to staff and other pupils has been assessed by public health specialists as low.

“Parents should be reassured that if their children have not been identified as a contact, they, along with any siblings, can continue to attend school and undertake other activities as normal provided no one in the household has symptoms.”