‘Only a matter of time’: Parents raise fears after Buxton school confirms coronavirus case

The school announced this morning that it would not open today in a message to parents.

The message read: “Due to a confirmed case of coronavirus amongst our parent population, Burbage Primary School will be closed as a precautionary measure to enable a deep clean to be completed.”

There has been a mixed reaction from parents and residents in the area. Some are calling for greater testing to make sure that other children and parents are not infected. Others have called for people not to panic.

Writing on Facebook, Ant Wakefield said: “Surely every single pupil and every single parent needs testing if one has had it, it's getting really silly trying to play something down that's clearly a serious situation, it's the children and peoples grandparents we need to worry about most.”

And Clare Monson expressed concern for other people, writing: “The child of the parent infected could have been spreading this disease for weeks already, and the parent who is infected will almost certainly have been spreading the disease for weeks more on top of that without knowing they are infected.

“Closing the school for a deep clean is pointless, the children will return who will continue spreading the disease, and the parents of all of the children who are atypical will be at work spreading it more, this is the effectiveness of the virus.”

Tracy Wright added: “It was only a matter of time. We've just had half term and loads of folk go away. All we can do is follow the WHO advice and take care.”

However, Charlotte Johnson called for people to put the issue into perspective.

She posted: “With a population of over 66 million I think the UK are doing a pretty good job of containing it, given there are only 13 confirmed cases! Instead of trying to frighten everyone and over dramatising why don’t we put it into perspective!? 27,000 people were killed on Britain’s roads last year which I find more horrifying!”