Covid border bubble with Broken Hill reinstated, other SA border travel bans eased – and masks in school dropped from Monday

Masks will no longer be mandatory in SA high schools, while several border bans have been lifted or eased – and there’s good news for NSW travellers.

South Australian school students and teachers will be free from masks Monday while NSW travellers can enjoy more freedoms amid a surging vaccination rate.

In a highly anticipated decision, Premier Steven Marshall revealed mandatory mask use will be scrapped in SA high schools for staff and students from Monday.

Education Department chief executive Rick Persse, approved it after sign-off from chief public health officer, Professor Nicola Spurrier and no transition comittee opposition.

Masks will now be optional only.

The transition committee on Friday discussed the new policy but made no decisions.

Mr Marshall said the reason was due to SA’s excellent vaccination rate, which is approaching 80 per cent single-dose vaccination rate.

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He said the magic target was now expected to hit by late November, and not December 3, which the Sunday Mail revealed was the magic day according to modelling.

He said wider easing of masks in public locations would be considered once the vaccination rate gets even higher.

But he said “wait and see” when asked if it would occur before the 80 per cent target.

He said the new rules would be bring “a lot of relief to students who have really done the right thing”.

“We’re very grateful to all students in South Australia, I’m sure it’s been very annoying to have to wear those masks in class,” he said.

“But it’s one of the elements that has kept our state safe. But the vaccination rate in South Australia is going extraordinarily well.

“We can’t become complacent. That’s why as part of what we’re doing, we’re trying to make it as easy as possible for people to roll up and roll up their sleeves.”

His announcement came hours after The Advertiser revealed how the transition committee on Friday recommended the travel ban with the Broken Hill local government area be lifted immediately as it debates the state’s road map out of restrictions.

Police Commissioner Grant Stevens, as state Covid-19 co-ordinator, told The Advertiser this included allowing driving from Queensland to South Australia through the Broken Hill cross border community.

Mr Stevens, who acted on the committee’s recommendations after taking the latest SA Health advice, scrapped cross-border testing rules for local residents although they have to be vaccinated.

He also authorised restriction-free transit travel through Sydney airport while quarantine rules that force NSW travellers to undertake an additional fortnight of isolation has also been scrapped.

The border checkpoint at Yamba, between SA and Victoria. Picture NewsWire / Darren Seiler.

Border bans with Portland, in Victoria, 75km east of the South Australian border, will also be lifted at 12.01am on Tuesday if no further cases emerge.

No other changes to the border rules, or public activities, were made.

Meanwhile, South Australia’s borders will reopen “within weeks”, Health Minister Stephen Wade says, but will not be drawn on how many.

Speaking before the Covid Transition Committee meeting on Friday, Mr Wade repeatedly declined to specify a deadline, but said modelling – also due within weeks – would show the way forward for SA.

On Thursday, a parliamentary committee heard SA would reopen once double vaccination rates his 80 per cent. The state is currently at 61 per cent.

Covid officials implored people who hadn’t been vaccinated to start now, saying it takes two weeks after the second dose for full immunity to begin.

Masks will remain in place for indoor and high-risk settings, deputy chief public health officer Emily Kirkpatrick said. She said SA Health had noticed mask “fatigue” setting in but asked people to continue to wear them.

It comes as children aged five to 11 are expected to start receiving Covid shots before Christmas under SA Health plans, a parliamentary committee has been told.

Mr Stevens told The Advertiser how the committee had a “very long and productive discussion” about the road map, which will be released within days.

He declined to provide specific details.

The easing of border restrictions with the Broken Hill council area came two days after the town conquered its `recent Delta strain outbreak of Covid-19.

NSW Health on Wednesday announced the district had zero “active”, or infectious, coronavirus patients for the first time in more than two months.

He said the last Broken Hill case was at least a fortnight ago, or what authorities say is one virus incubation cycle.

It means the area has no evidence of community transmission. The last reported case was in Wilcannia 24 days ago.

There have been 305 cases since August 17 – 152 in Wilcannia, 122 in Broken Hill, one in Menindee, one in Balranald and 29 in Wentworth local government area.

The first Broken Hill case had travelled to an indigenous funeral in Wilcannia, almost 200km west of the border town, on August 16, at least three days after becoming infectious.

The case prompted SA authorities to close the area’s cross-border travel bubble on August 14 after Covid was detected in local wastewater.