The measures making return to classroom safe

Healthcare worker Wendy Dalziel is thrilled her 12-year-old daughter Annabel will return to the classroom, and said hitting the 70 per cent milestone “represents opportunity”“For me it brings great joy that people are doing the right thing, so we can all start to enjoy a sense of normality again,” she said.It comes as new data from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, based on the NSW outbreak, showed that while Delta is about five times more transmissible than previous variants, rapid testing, enhanced ventilation, mask-wearing and good hygiene helped control its spread in schools.The researchers, led by Professor Sharon Goldberg, predict numbers of children getting covid will rise as restrictions are eased “due to an overall increase in community transmission in a mainly non-immune population”. However, children and adolescents continue to have mild, or no symptoms.More than fifty schools across the state have Covid cases, including Berwick Lodge Primary where preps went back to class for only one day before being sent home again.About 68 children and 20 staff have been identified as primary close contacts and have to isolate for seven or 14 days depending on their level of contact.Also impacted was, Melbourne Girls College in Richmond, which closed due to a Covid case a week out from the VCE English exam.The high achieving government school said it closed while they tracked down the primary contacts to a case attending the school last week and Monday.The Covid case has “only minor symptoms and seems to be doing okay,” the school told saidBerwick Lodge principal Henry Grossek described measures such as masks as a “toothless tiger”.Mr Grossek said there was minimal mask-wearing among preps to grade twos, but much higher compliance among older kids. “But some find it hard so how to do you manage the kids who refuse or take them off? You can’t isolate or suspend them,” he said. He said the Covid-safe measures made sense but were a “toothless tiger as they are unenforceable”.“It’s a bloody challenging time. From day to day we are not old until early evening what’s happening the following day.”“We are all flying by the seat of our pants.”“It is very disappointing not to have kids back on-site. Schools are hollow institutions without the kids,” Mr Grossek said.He said the return to school problems were compounded by the reopening timetable.“The staggered start is very complicated and doesn’t make a lot of sense to most of us,” he said. “It’s also confusing to parents and students.”