Health and Education Minister Chris Hipkins is assuring concerned parents it is safe for students to return to school in Auckland despite new Covid-19 cases emerging in the community every day.
Yesterday New Zealand recorded nine new virus cases, of which five were in the community - all linked to the Auckland cluster.
The total number of active cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand is 131 - made up of 24 imported cases and 107 in the community.
Yesterday, schools in the city opened for the first time in more than two weeks as Auckland moved from Alert Level 3 to "2.5".
However, attendance yesterday was low with one Auckland principal saying classrooms were only half full.
Mr Hipkins yesterday said he understands parents' anxiety but his message was clear - "do get your kids back to school, their futures depend on this. They have had a lot of time off school already this year and we don't want them having time off school that they don't need".
Rowandale School’s Karl Vasau says only around half his students returned to school for the first day of “Level 2.5”.
Karl Vasau, principal at Rowandale School in Manurewa, this morning told TVNZ1's Breakfast "it's not that simple", though.
He said sending children back to school wasn't an easy decision for every family, with some worried about the financial burden if they or their kids get ill.
"When people talk about 'okay you have the choice', sometimes choice costs," Mr Vasau said.
"Most of our parents have to prioritise that [sending children to school] because it's hard enough as it is let alone having a virus right there and the anxiety.
"So when the Minister of Education says 'you're doing damage to your children' how are these poor families feeling right now? Because now the Minister of Education is saying you've got to get back but it's not that simple.
"Some of us can choose to do that, others struggle with those choices every day and it's just one of the things that some in my community just have to grapple with."
But not everyone was back in the classroom, with some parents still uneasy about community transmission of Covid-19.
However, while only 350 of the 650 students at Rowandale attended school yesterday, Mr Vasau assured parents it was safe.
Later on Breakfast this morning, Mr Hipkins said one of the issues considered in the decision to move down alert levels was if schools were safe, and he assured they were.
In addressing Mr Vasau's claims that it wasn't as simple as that for some families already struggling, he said there was additional financial support for families who have to self-isolate for Covid-19.
"That's been available since the first time we had to go through this exercise, we've made sure that's available again this time around.
"But again, I just want to reiterate to parents thinking about sending their kids to school, because we did go through a bit of a lag last time after the last lockdown before we got back to a good level of attendance at schools, that actually it is safe to send your kids back to school.
"We wouldn't be asking you to do that if that was putting them at greater risk."
Mr Hipkins also said that the alert level system was designed to accommodate contained clusters at Level 2.
At this point, all new cases in the community since the August Covid-19 outbreak - bar one which was a worker at a managed isolation facility - have been linked to the Auckland cluster.
"I give you reassurance in both portortolios on this, that actually education and health are working very, very closely together to make sure that the right guidance is going out to school and that all of the safety considerations for school are being taken on board when we shift alert levels," Mr Hipkins said.
All of New Zealand is now at Alert Level 2, bringing Auckland Airport back to life today.
SHARE ME