The families of Chinese students at two Harrogate private boarding schools face the dilemma of whether or not their children should go home for the Easter holidays.   

China, where the disease originated, has seen 80,430 cases with 3,013 deaths and more than 6,000 seriously ill. 

Sylvia Brett, Principal of Harrogate Ladies’ College, Highfield Prep School and Highfield Pre-School told The Stray Ferret:

 “A small percentage of our pupils are from Category 1 and Category 2 regions who, following our advice, haven’t been home since Christmas.   

“They will either remain in the UK during the Easter holidays or self-isolate away from school for 14 days on their return.   

“Some are quite naturally worried about friends and family at home and we’re working hard to support them emotionally through this time.  We’re also reviewing overseas trips currently planned for the Summer Term and will decide over the coming weeks whether they will go ahead.” 

The college has installed additional alcohol hand sanitisers around school. The prep school pupils, who normally shake hands with staff when they arrive at school in the morning, have been asked to get creative with alternative greetings such as foot taps, elbow bumps and even the Star Trek “Live Long and Prosper” greeting.  She adds:

 “We’ve been planning and preparing for the impact of coronavirus since the end of January.  It’s a very worrying time for everyone and our whole school community is working hard to help prevent the spread of the virus.” 

The College has a team of qualified nurses in its Wellness Centre and they’ve been medically briefed on the virus and have been liaising with both Public Health England and NHS111.   

A Contingency Planning Team is working on short, medium and long term plans, covering all aspects of running a school including providing lessons via an on-line learning environment and video conferencing if necessary.   

The college believes it’s time for people to keep cool heads and Sylvia Brett points out: 

“I think it’s really important for the sake of the children that we remain calm, but it’s also important that we’re prepared for any future developments and so we’re focusing on trying to achieve both of these things.” 

Ashville College says it is keeping the parents of its students regularly updated.  

The Boarding Schools Association (BSA), of which Harrogate Ladies College and Ashville are both members, gives very specific advice for boarding schools with Chinese students, saying. ‘We advise those who decide to travel that protective measures could well be in place before they return.  Depending upon how the virus spreads, this could include the need for returning pupils to be quarantined.’ 

The Medical Director of Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust has warned that coronavirus may lead to increasing numbers of people needing to self-isolate but that services are currently running normally.

As the number of confirmed cases in the UK rose today to 85, the Harrogate district has yet to have any– the closest being in Leeds and Ilkley.  Harrogate District Hospital has set up NHS 111 pods outside the main entrance so anyone showing symptoms of the virus can be tested away from other patients, reduce the risk of infection and the strain on the Accident and Emergency Department.

Dr David Scullion, Medical Director at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, told The Stray Ferret:

“Over the coming weeks many more of us may need to self-isolate at home for a period to reduce this virus’s spread. Everyone can continue to play their part by taking simple steps such as washing hands to prevent the spread of infection and calling NHS 111 first before going to the doctors or the Emergency Department if they have any concerns about or show symptoms of coronavirus”

Harrogate has a higher than average older population. 6.6% are over 80 years old. A population survey in 2017 found that 10,400 over 65s were living in the district with “limiting illness”.  The elderly are more vulnerable to becoming serious ill if they catch the virus- a rising number of cases would put a significant strain on local services.   

The Hospital, which has a budget of £175m, has 396 beds in total- 10 of which are intensive care and high dependency.  NHS England has told hospitals to consider ways to increase the availability of hospital beds and resources for coronavirus patients.  

The NHS 111 pods outside Harrogate Hospital

People leaving Harrogate hospital told the Stray Ferret they were concerned.

Duncan White who lives in Harrogate said  “ It’s a bit lame just to tell people to wash their hands. I’m not sure that GP surgeries and the Hospital here in Harrogate would cope with an ageing population in panic mode.” 

One woman who wished to remain anonymous said  “I am scared, I have a chronic illness already so I’m very frightened.” 

The Managing Partner of the Leeds Road GP Surgery in Harrogate, Andrew King, said  “We are following national guidelines and we are as prepared as the current guidance has prepared us to be”.   

One Harrogate Dentist, Dr Shohreh Ghasemi, who works both privately and for the NHS told the Stray Ferret  “People should try and remain calm as stress only worsens the effectiveness of our immune systems.” 

Anyone with initial concerns can access the NHS 111 online coronavirus service that can tell you if you need medical help and advise you what to do.  For information click here.

NHS England has published advice on how to reduce the risk of infection. For more information click here. 

The Stray Ferret is an online news service for the Harrogate district. We are a team of experienced journalists who will be covering news, investigating the use of public money and holding our elected representatives at all levels to account.  

We were due to launch at the beginning of April but have decided to start publishing earlier in the event the coronavirus emergency deepens and we have cases locally. Our aim will be to provide the public with information and aim to answer questions you might have about protecting yourselves and your family.   

You can read about who were on the About Us section of the website.  We have more journalists coming to work for us in the coming weeks and our website is not fully complete so bear with us as we expand to cover more stories in the coming month.  

The Stray Ferret … fearless, factual and fair..