Australia:Schools in Melbourne reopen amid COVID-19 lockdown, threatening teacher and student safety

In a reckless move that unnecessarily jeopardizes the safety of teachers, school staff and students, the Victorian Labor government announced Wednesday that Melbourne High Schools will reopen for 11th and 12th grade students starting next week.

This follows a week-long shutdown of most schools imposed as part of an originally planned seven-day lockdown triggered by the transmission of the dangerous COVID-19 variant of kappa through the community. Authorities announced today that they had discovered the even more contagious Delta variant. The lockdown has been extended for a further seven days, but with a number of relaxed restrictions, including reopening schools for older students in Melbourne and resuming classroom teaching in all schools in the Victoria area.

These steps contradict public health science. There are more than 360 exposure sites across Melbourne and thousands of people self-isolating. New confirmed COVID-19 infections are reported every day. Although the numbers are still relatively low, Australian and international experience has shown how quickly an unbridled exponential growth in the number of cases can trigger a public health crisis.

Victoria Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton admitted today that the recently discovered variant of the Delta, largely responsible for the humanitarian disaster in India, “may cause more illnesses in children as well as increased communicability in children – we have concerns about this.“

Read more: https://newsbeezer.com/zimbabwe/australia-schools-in-melbourne-reopen-amid-covid-19-lockdown-threatening-teacher-and-student-safety/