The Yokohama municipal government asked a private nursery school in the city not to inform parents of a teacher who tested positive for the coronavirus, it has been learned.
"At that time, there was no report [of the infection] from the public health center, so we decided to tell parents after investigating who the teacher came into contact with," a municipal government official said.
"Disclosure [of information about infections] is essential to protect the lives of children. [What the municipal government did] is unacceptable," an official of an organization of nursery school heads said.
According to a person close to the situation, the teacher tested positive for the virus on April 8 after complaining of poor health. The nursery school reported the infection to the municipal government and planned to inform the parents and close the school as well. However, the municipal government asked the school not to notify the parents and to keep the school open.
The Yokohama city private nursery school principal's association submitted a written request to Mayor Fumiko Hayashi on April 13, which states: "[The city government's handling of the issue] can be regarded as a cover-up. We would like you to improve your response to such problems and not to prevent the disclosure of accurate information to parents."
The nursery school is currently closed.
"We thought it would cause confusion if the information was disclosed without knowing who else the teacher could have come in contact with. We decided that we needed to wait for the health center's investigation to properly inform parents with the correct information," the municipal government told The Yomiuri Shimbun. The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said it will "confirm the facts."
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