SA schools won’t use twice-weekly Covid tests, Premier Steven Marshall says

Premier Steven Marshall has ruled out twice-weekly Covid tests for school students, as he prepares to reveal the government’s full back-to-school plan on Friday.

South Australian schools will not use twice-weekly Covid tests on their students, despite the federal government agreeing to cover half the costs.

SA Premier Steven Marshall said his government’s decision had relied on “unequivocal” advice from the nation’s chief medical officer that the surveillance testing model would not be effective.

Some states were considering the option of using rapid-antigen tests (RATs) after a national cabinet meeting on Thursday, which failed to lock in consistent protocols for the return to the classroom.

Mr Marshall will announce SA’s back-to-school policy on Friday.

“The very strong advice from the chief medical officer Professor Paul Kelly and the AHPPC (Australian Health Protection Principal Committee) is that surveillance testing is sub-optimal,” he said.

“It is going to give a lot of false negatives, which in many ways is going to give people a false sense of security they don’t have the disease.”

Toby and Sefanie from Xavier College in Two Wells are looking forward to returning to school. Picture: Russell Millard

Under the Commonwealth’s plan, state governments would be required to source adequate supplies of RATs, if they chose to implement twice-weekly surveillance testing in schools.

Prof Kelly said the school year would lead to increased transmission of the virus, although modelling had not been completed to assess the impact on case numbers.

He said classmates of Covid-positive students would not be required to isolate if they returned a negative result as they were not considered a close contact.

But Prof Kelly did warn there was a risk some students could catch the virus at school and take it home, but that had to be balanced against the need to keep schools open.

“We want kids back at school and want them back on day one. To keep them at school as much as possible. There are trade-offs today in terms of transmission,” he said.

“The definition of a close contact is the same for children as it is for adults.

“If you are close contact of a case in your house, you should not be coming to school.”

Meanwhile, the SA Branch of the Australian Education Union has already opened the ballot for members to vote on taking strike action on the first day of school next Wednesday.

Mr Marshall said it was a “premature” decision to open voting before the release of his government’s school plan, which is set to include a strong recommendation for students in year 3 and above to wear masks.

Fancy That On Beach Road, which started making masks from its Christies Beach business last year, is working to meet back-to-school demand.

“With school going back we have started producing navy, blue and black because so many schools want their students to wear a plain mask,” co-owner Kate Billinghurst said.