“Anywhere you’ve got crowding for long periods and ventilation that could be better,you’ve got issues,” he said.
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He supported the department’s approach of targeting restrictions to schools with high numbers of cases,and said widespread school closures were unnecessary. He expected the outbreak would peak soon,and that the Easter school holidays - due to begin at the end of next week - would provide another circuit breaker.
“School has never been the driver of the epidemic,” he said. “Of course it spreads in schools,and when it’s raining you’ll have more crowding and more transmission of virus,undoubtedly. Transmission is occurring in the community and households.”
Principals of some schools hit hard in the past few weeks report case numbers in their schools are stabilising or falling.
Philip Britton,an associate professor in paediatric infectious diseases at the University of Sydney,said comparisons with last year’s attendance data may overestimate the absentee rate as there was much less COVID-19 and fewer respiratory viruses circulating in early 2021.
He said the settings in schools were the best available,and there was no evidence that air filters or masks would “be game changers right now”.
“The main problem is the virus,it’s a very transmissible variant,” he said.
While the surge in cases posed a significant staffing challenge in schools as well as hospitals,it was not leading to the same hospitalisation rates as the Omicron outbreak over Christmas.
Professor Booy urged parents to have their children vaccinated;just 24 per cent of children aged between five and 11 have had both doses. He also said a flu shot,available from early April,would be important,too.
“There’s evidence that a co-infection of flu and COVID will be more likely to put you on a ventilator in hospital,” he said.
Ilina Lovely’s children Natasha,11,and Spencer,nine,are both at home after Natasha caught COVID-19 for a second time.
“You assume it’s from school but it could be from anywhere at the moment,” Ms Lovely said.
Spencer said he found his first day of isolation on Tuesday tiresome. “It’s very boring and not as fun,it’s quite a bit hard to learn without your teacher,” he said.
Chadya Berjawi Bassal’s six-year-old daughter Mariam is off school for a week,after she returned a positive test on Monday afternoon.
“When I picked her up from school yesterday,she was very drowsy and lethargic – I felt her head and it was steaming,” said the Blacktown mother,who also has a three-year-old daughter at home.
On Tuesday morning Mariam had a scratchy throat,but was otherwise boisterous. Asked if she felt sick she replied,“No,I feel happy.”
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