Coronavirus: Most Westlake students won't skip school after yesterday's announcement

A parent with children at Westlake Boys and Westlake Girls high school says her children would be still attending school today. Photo / Google

A parent with children at a North Shore school with links to a coronavirus case said families need to keep a level head.

Leonela Hooker has a child at both schools where a student's parent was diagnosed with Covis-19.

She told The Hits radio station they sat down and discussed what they would do after yesterday afternoon's announcement came from Westlake Boys' and Westlake Girls' high schools.

"As a family, we are still happy to send the kids to school. The Ministry of Health have basically said it's low risk, so we've got to go by that and by what the authorities say."

Her daughter has internal assessments that she's working on, but it was ultimately the children's decision to attend school today.

"We're just not freaking out as such - I know some people have probably got a different mindset on that."

Yesterday afternoon, Director-General of health Ashley Bloomfield confirmed the second case was a parent with teenagers at Westlake Boys' and Westlake Girls' high schools.

The Auckland Regional Public Health Service issued a statement to the school, reassuring families there was no risk to them even though the children had attended school.

The children are now in self-isolation as a precaution.

Hooker said she feels for the affected family and naming them would "create more chaos".

"They are getting bullied online, and can you imagine what they're going through? It would be so scary knowing that you've got the coronavirus."

She said some of the community had responded harshly on social media saying "Let's stay away [from them], they're contagious" and her daughter's friend received "funny looks" on the bus yesterday because she was wearing a Westlake uniform.

Hooker they were made aware of the situation before the announcement was made.

"We actually found out about lunch time. We got a frenzied phone call from our daughter saying Westlake Boys' had had an urgent teacher's meeting and all the girls were 'freaking out'."

The confirmed case is a women in her early 30s. She and her partner returned from a trip to northern Italy at the end of February.

The partner has been showing symptoms of the illness and it will be confirmed today if he is also positive for Covid-19.

A third confirmed case was announced this morning, but it is not the partner of the woman who already had the virus.