'Yeah, it's a joke': Furious parents pull their kids from school after learning a makeshift coronavirus quarantine camp has been set up nearby
- About 280 Australians are in quarantine at a workers village in Howard Springs
- But Good Shepherd Lutheran College students are now being pulled from school
- Parents fear the disease could be airborne despite health officials saying it is not
Furious parents have pulled their children from school after learning a mining camp next to the campus is being used as a coronavirus quarantine centre.
Around 280 Australians will be isolated at the unused Inpex workers village in Howard Springs, 30km east of Darwin, after fleeing the coronavirus epicentre of Wuhan.
Good Shepherd Lutheran College notified parents at a meeting on Monday, but some felt authorities did not allow time to hear their concerns.
Now some parents plan to keep their children at home after reading the deadly disease could be transmitted through the air.
Pupils at Good Shepherd Lutheran College (pictured) are being withdrawn by their parents amid concerns they could be infected with the coronavirus
'Yeah, it’s a bit of a joke,' parent Beckie Kernich told NT News about the lack of community consultation.
'I’m assured that that’s the information they have currently and that’s the information they believe and that’s the information they’re acting on, from my perspective there’s a lot of international information you can see immediately online which may put that into doubt.'
Ms Kernich said she was unsure if she would allow her teenage son to attend school when he is due back next week.
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But mother-of-two Karen Donald said her children would be kept at home until the site is shut down.
NT deputy chief health officer Di Stephens has offered assurance the virus can only be spread through droplets during close personal contact.
She said those with the virus would have to cough, kiss or spit on someone, and those particles rubbed into someone's eyes for them to become ill.
The Inpex workers camp (pictured), 500 metres away from the school, is housing around 280 Australians for two weeks
Other parents are not worried their children will be infected.
Nicolette McCourt said social media allowed a lot of false and misleading information to circulate and her children would remain at school.
'It’s not airborne, it’s only via droplets, there’s a 50-metre buffer zone between the village and our fence so there’s just no concerns for me,' she said.
She added that if her family had of been one of those caught up in the crisis overseas while visiting relatives, she would want the Australian government to provide her with the same treatment.
Hundreds of evacuees arrived at Howard Springs on Sunday, where they will spend the next two weeks housed at least 300 metres within the facility and 500 metres from the school.
Australian evacuees from the Chinese city Wuhan arrive at the Inpex Plant Manigurr-ma Village in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, 9 February
Evacuees were initially expected to be quarantined on Christmas Island, but that is at capacity with two flights from Wuhan already taken there.
The camp once housed 3,500 workers involved in Inpex's construction of a $55 billion gas plant on Darwin Harbour.
Those on board the first evacuation flight included 77 children, 11 infants and one 'less-than-able' 90-year-old man, the Australian Border Force said.
They were subject to tests for the coronavirus before and during the six-hour Qantas flight from Wuhan and upon landing and were unlikely to have the coronavirus.
The new viral outbreak that began in China has infected more than 40,546 people globally resulting in more than 910 deaths so far.
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