Papdale Primary cases rise by four but signs of ‘downward trend’ welcomed

November 10, 2021 at 8:52 pm

Papdale Primary School and the nursery has been heavily affected by COVID-19.

Papdale Primary School has seen a rise of four COVID-19 cases meaning that as of today, Wednesday, there have been 51 cases among pupils in total, Orkney Islands Council has confirmed.

There are eight positive COVID cases among staff and four others await the results of PCR tests.

There were 180 children present in school today, with a further 116 receiving online learning.

There were more than 140 absences including COVID-related issues, all sickness and children whose parents have chosen not to send them to school.

The council’s executive director of education, leisure and housing, James Wylie said: “We are pleased that our colleagues in Public Health have confirmed a downward trend at Papdale Primary — this means the increase in daily cases is reducing and that’s good news.

“However, we are now moving to a position whereby the widespread community transmission of COVID-19 is having an impact within schools across Orkney. We are starting to witness small numbers within several settings.”

Mr Wylie said daily monitoring and management meetings would continue for the foreseeable future, and stressed the importance of following Public Health advice, including the use of lateral flow tests, to try and mitigate against community transmission of the virus.

The council has also confirmed that Papdale Nursery will be closed for the remainder of this week.

This setting, which was shut down as a result of COVID-19 contact tracing among employees, will only partially reopen on Monday, November 15, due to insufficient staffing levels.

Parents are being notified as quickly as possible.

Papdale Nursery manager Caroline Easton said: “I would like to thank parents who have been incredibly supportive as we try to work our way through this ongoing situation. We are very appreciative of the positive feedback we have received.

“We are working through all contingencies to see how a reopening can be managed safely and we are planning for a partial reopening on Monday and hoping to be back to normal by Wednesday next week (November 17).”