Schools closed, teachers anxious as three new cases confirmed
Two Queensland schools are closed and teacher anxiety levels are skyrocketing after three confirmed cases of COVID-19 rocked communities south of Brisbane on Wednesday.
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TWO Queensland schools are closed after three confirmed cases of COVID-19 have rocked communities south of Brisbane, sending anxiety levels skyrocketing.
Parklands Christian College, south of Brisbane in Park Ridge, was closed yesterday after a female 19-year-old school cleaner tested positive for COVID-19 late on Tuesday.
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And Chatswood Hills State School and its after hours service will be closed from Thursday after a childcare worker at the YMCA Outside of School Hours Care (OSHC) facility was diagnosed with COVID-19.
Queensland health yesterday said the 22-year-old female was a known close contact to the other two confirmed cases.
A YMCA OSHC spokeswoman said as soon as the centre became aware the employee was being tested they informed parents they would be closing tomorrow for deep cleaning.
“She was at work last week with no symptoms, she was last at work on Friday, and then over the weekend started to not feel well so didn’t come in and found out her sister had the virus and then went and got tested yesterday and then we were notified today by Queensland Health that she was positive,” she said.
Queensland Teachers’ Union president Kevin Bates said anxiety levels were climbing after the confirmed cases related to schools.
“Certainly this morning, it was a major topic of conversation among teachers and principals, the closure of the private school in Logan,” he said.
“It reinforced A, the anxieties and B, the necessity for everybody to respond if this becomes a wider issue for us.
“The reason that this is a concern as an illness is because it does spread rapidly, everybody needs to be on their guard dealing with the symptoms as they appear, stay home and get tested if they’re feeling unwell.”
Independent Education Union QLD and NT branch secretary Terry Burke said yesterday’s school-related cases heightened the concern of teachers.
“Teachers are every-presently worried about the potential for an outbreak in a school environment, today would heighten their concern, coming off the back of the large number of closures in Victoria and significant numbers in NSW,” he said.
“It would be naive to think Queensland schools are immune from this, clearly today we’ve had it demonstrated that they’re not.”
Education Minister Grace Grace said it was vital everyone continued to follow health advice including regular handwashing.
“If you are sick you need to get tested and then you need to stay home,” she said.
“There is no room for complacency, particularly in our schools.”