Covid: Hotel thought prom-goers had negative tests before spike

More than 50 positive Covid cases are linked to a Year 11 party at Cwrt Bleddyn hotel

The manager of a hotel at the centre of a school prom Covid spike says he was assured everyone had passed a lateral flow test before attending the event.

More than 50 positive cases have been linked to the party at the Cwrt Bleddyn hotel near Usk in Monmouthshire.

Manager Simon Daniel said he thought he had been dealing with Caerleon Comprehensive School in Newport over the event for 120 Year 11 pupils.

He said he now believed a parent on the prom committee had organised the party.

One member of staff at the hotel is isolating after testing positive for coronavirus, he said.

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Mr Daniel said he believed the graduation party organiser had been under the genuine assumption that those attending had all received a negative lateral flow test result.

Newport Council said the event was not organised by Caerleon Comprehensive

He said: "We thought this was an official school prom - we thought we were dealing with the school.

"On the actual day of the prom I met up at the hotel with the main organiser that we'd dealt with, who assured me she had 120-odd negative lateral flow tests.

"If it had to be postponed, we could have postponed it."

Newport Council said the event was not organised by Caerleon Comprehensive but staff had sent messages out to the Year 11 group urging them to get a test.

Mr Daniel said he was told by Newport Environmental Health officers after the event that the school had not organised the prom.

He added: "I was there on the night - the event went off without a hitch...

"We've got protocols in place, procedures and risk assessments."

He said the hotel had no control over what pupils did before and after the event.

Joan Watkins, a councillor who is on the school's board of governors, told BBC Radio Wales she thought people were "making a mountain out of a molehill" and that the hotel and organisers "took every precaution they could possibly take".

She added the children had been excited for their prom night after enduring a horrible year.

"They've had to cope with problems that no other students in previous years have had to cope with, so looking forward to this prom night was something that held up their spirits and that I think was something absolutely fantastic."

On Wednesday Newport Council said: "There are over 50 positive confirmed cases now associated with the prom event cluster.

"Most of these cases stem directly from the event, with some cases also stemming from a number of parties held after the event."

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