Longford primary school sends 6 classes home due to small Covid outbreak

It’s been reported that a primary school in north Longford has sent a total of six separate classes home due to five positive Covid-19 cases.

As reported by independent.ie, the first two positive cases were detected on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, while another two cases were confirmed last Friday, March 19. The fifth case was detected yesterday.

St Colmcille National School “shut down” two of the classes affected yesterday, Monday, March 22, with further testing underway to ensure the virus doesn’t spread further.

The school’s principal, Aideen Mulligan, confirmed that the primary school will remain open, and made sure to praise their hardworking staff and the supportive parents while they deal with this outbreak.

Principal Mulligan also believes that community transmission was the cause of the outbreak, and that the virus did not originate within the school. “The HSE seems happy that the infections came into the school from outside,” Mulligan explained.

“Letters have been emailed to all parents and text messages have also been sent to update them on every case. We are fortunate to have such supportive parents.”

It’s understood that while six classes of children are currently not in school due to the outbreak, this means that three classrooms have been shut down.

“Because there are siblings of those in the school, it means we don't have many (pupils) in,” Principal Mulligan commented.

It’s worth noting that during a press briefing last night, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn explained how in recent days the public health teams have witnessed a number of small outbreaks within students and schools.

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