There are 13 new Covid cases in Auckland and they all will now go into quarantine. All of the 13 cases are linked to the original four confirmed cases from the new outbreak in South Auckland. Video / Chris Tarpey
Students of a high school geography class have been sent home for the week after discovering they were at a tourist attraction at the same time as members of a family who later tested positive for Covid-19.
The 15 boys and two teachers from Francis Douglas Memorial College in New Plymouth visited the Skyline Gondola and Luge in Rotorua when two members of an Auckland family were there on Sunday.
The woman in her 20s and a child were symptomatic and later tested positive for the virus along with two other members of the family.
On Thursday, 3 more confirmed cases in Auckland were linked to the outbreak.
Francis Douglas Memorial College principal Martin Chamberlain said sending the Year 13 students and their teachers home was a precautionary measure against the spread of the virus.
"It's merely precautionary for peace of mind."
The Catholic boys' school has a role of 780 including 110 boarders.
The three-day trip is an annual pilgrimage undertaken by the class to learn about tourism and this year's event took in a visit to the luge.
"They found out subsequently, having returned to school yesterday, that they were at the luge at the same time the Auckland family was."
A high school class is in isolation after being at Rotorua's Skyline Luge the same time as two members of a Covid-19 positive family. Photo / Supplied
They were not staying at the same hotel, the Wai Ora Lakeside Spa Resort.
Chamberlain has also isolated himself, having been in Rotorua at that time for the New Zealand Secondary Schools Association conference, which was cancelled on Wednesday morning after news of the move to alert level 3 in Auckland and alert level 2 across the rest of New Zealand.
"I've made a similar decision because I didn't want to leave myself wide open because we've asked the boys to do something... and I was in Rotorua too.
"I'm not personally worried, but it's perception that matters I suppose."
None of the teenagers, their teachers or Chamberlain were showing any symptoms of Covid-19. Some of the boys had been tested.
Four of the students sent home were boarders, but none were from Auckland.
Chamberlain said the school would await the Government's announcement on Friday about the next steps in the level 3 lockdown before making a decision about when the students could return to classes.
