Oceania/ Australia/ 21.07.2020/ Source: www.smh.com.au.
Health authorities are confident hygiene and social distancing measures will reduce the risk of COVID-19 outbreaks in schools as NSW students return to class for term three.
The NSW Department of Education will press ahead with the easing of restrictions in public schools, including allowing special religious education volunteers back onto campus, and the resumption of inter-school competitions and work experience.
Some principals said they were nervous students’ return would exacerbate COVID-19 outbreaks in south-west Sydney, particularly after a cluster at Al-Taqwa College in Melbourne led to 173 cases.
But Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said the NSW Department of Education had «strong, COVID-safe practices».
«We’re very confident in the social distancing and hygiene measures that have been put in place,» she said.
Dr Chant urged parents to maintain a safe physical distance when dropping off and picking up their children, and said while masks were a personal decision for families, children often did not use them properly, which could lead to further risk.
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant has confirmed 20 new COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in the last 24-hours.
«At this point in time we are not recommending that students are sent to school with face masks,» she said.
While NSW Health research found transmission rates were low between school students, a major study from South Korea involving thousands of coronavirus cases found rates were as high as adults among those aged between 10 and 19.
However, the director of the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, Kristine Macartney, said the Korean study looked at transmission within households rather than at school.
«What’s important to bear in mind is that households are quite different to schools,» she said. «If we stick to the health advice, I am confident we will see little transmission in school.
«As we have seen in Victoria, when the virus is out in the broader community, and we have circulation in families, communities and schools put together, that’s a different situation.»
Professor Mary-Louise McLaws, an adviser to the World Health Organisation, said Victorian health authorities were investigating the Al-Taqwa cluster, but the most likely driver was social contact between students’ families after hours rather than between students on campus.
«Authorities will start looking at whether the students are actually from family clusters, and happen to go to the same school,» she said.
President of the Parents and Citizens Federation Tim Spencer said parents were concerned about the spread of COVID-19 in the community, but «at this stage we are hopeful that the Department [of Education] will be able to manage anything that may occur,» he said.
NSW Teachers Federation President Angelo Gavrielatos said the union would continue to monitor the situation.
«As always our actions will be informed by putting the health and safety of students and teachers and principals first,» he said.
Source of news: https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/students-head-back-to-school-amid-coronavirus-nerves-20200720-p55dsc.html
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