Kaitaia Abundant Life school principal Mark Tan has been vocal about his stance against the Covid-19 vaccine mandate in the past. Signboard on his property. Photo / NZME
Kaitaia Abundant Life school principal Mark Tan has been vocal about his stance against the Covid-19 vaccine mandate in the past. Signboard on his property. Photo / NZME
A Far North school, whose principal has been open about his views against vaccine mandate, is closed after a Covid-19 positive case was identified within the school on Wednesday.
Kaitaia Abundant Life school's Facebook post on Thursday morning says their thoughts are with the student who has tested positive andtheir whanau.
"We are following the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health guidelines and advice throughout. All whanau have been emailed letters relative to their situation, noting courses of action and the like."
The post said the health and safety of the students was their top priority and a pop-up testing station dedicated to the staff, students and whanau by the Te Hiku Hauora team was soon put in place in the school car park from 10am–1pm on Thursday.
"We are encouraging school whanau to make use of this opportunity, particularly if you are symptomatic or needing assurance," the post read.
As a precautionary measure, the school moved to its online learning platform from Wednesday for the remainder of the week.
In an interview with Te Karere TVNZ earlier in October, principal Mark Tan said if it came to losing his job (because of the vaccine mandate), "so be it" and he was prepared to stand up for it.
"They (the Government) didn't leave any wiggle room, and basically said take the jab or we'll take your land. That is what I woke up to two days ago (when the mandate was announced on October 11) because I am the sole provider, in terms of our whanau.
"How can they announce something and then a week later make it a law?"
Signboard on Kaitaia Abundant Life school principal Mark Tan's property. Photo / NZME
He told Te Karere he believed that the rights of individuals to choose their own health outcomes for their own whanau had been taken away.
"Basically, if you don't take the jab, they are going to render you unemployed."
School board chairwoman Karena Hita said they continued to work with the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health to fully understand the situation.
"Updates will be communicated to our parents and school community as available. We are encouraging our school community if they have any symptoms to get tested."
Meanwhile, a child from Kaitaia is the region's newest confirmed Covid case, taking Northland's total number of cases in the Delta outbreak to 75.
Of the cases, 26 were active in home isolation and 49 cases had been released from isolation.
The child, whose age remains undisclosed, had largely been in isolation during the past 24 hours. The Kaitaia Town Swimming Pool was added as a new location of interest on Friday.
Anyone who visited the pool on Tuesday, November 16, between 3.30pm and 4.30pm, is asked to self-monitor for Covid-19 symptoms for 10 days and get tested if symptoms develop.
A further update was provided about the Ruakākā case announced on Thursday with the public health team have linked it to another case.
Two new locations of interest were identified in the coastal settlement. FreshChoice Ruakākā and Ruakākā Liquor Centre both had exposure events on Saturday, November 20.
Anyone who visited the supermarket between 12.35pm and 12.50pm; or the liquor store between 12.15pm and 12.30pm is also advised to self-monitor for Covid-19 symptoms for 10 days and get tested if symptoms develop.
The whānau of an Auckland border worker, who returned home to Ōtangarei and tested positive for the virus almost a week later, have returned negative test results so far.
Thursday recorded 1020 completed Covid tests - 10 per cent of which were identified as contacts who had been in Northland locations of interest linked to recent cases.
Northland still needs 9330 people to be vaccinated before the region can achieve the target of 90 per cent fully vaccination.
From November 29 anyone aged 18 or older who received their second dose of the Pfizer vaccine at least six months ago can now get a booster shot.
