13,091 cases, 14 deaths; back-to-school plan revealed

Free masks and rapid tests will be handed out at schools under a term one plan that has made remote learning “an absolute last resort”.

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Schools will be the first to open and the last to close, with remote learning “an absolute last resort” under Victoria’s back-to-school plan.

On Sunday, Premier Daniel Andrews and Education Minister James Merlino announced surveillance testing, ventilation, vaccinations and a comprehensive workforce would be part of a plan to safely open schools on January 31.

“We will be back day one of term one and it may look a bit different, (it) will be challenging, but it is critically important that we have the students back in the classroom and as safe a situation as we can possibly build so that they can get the education and socialisation,” Mr Andrews said.

More than 14 million rapid antigen tests, including 6.6 million tests for the first week of term, would be delivered to schools across the state with all students and staff encouraged to take twice-weekly tests before school or childcare.

Mr Merlino said there was sufficient supply to ensure all students and staff would be able to test twice-weekly for the first four weeks of term one.

The plan, which was devised in partnership with the NSW government, will see rapid antigen testing in place for the first four weeks of term one.

“We have to get schools back. Once they get back, given how much Omicron is in a community, there will be cases,” Mr Andrews warned.

Regular rapid antigen tests will form part of Victoria’s back-to-school strategy. Picture: Ian Currie

Students and staff at specialist schools will be recommended to test five days each week due to the higher risk of severe illness for medically vulnerable children.

The government will also deliver 51,000 air purifiers to government and low-fee private schools for the first day of term one, to be used in high-risk settings with poor ventilation, including music rooms, staffrooms, indoor canteens and sick bays.

More than 1800 schools have applied for a shade cloth grant as classes move outside to prevent transmission.

Close to six million masks will be handed out in schools, including N95s and surgical masks in child and adult sizes.

Mask-wearing will continue, with students in grade three and above required to wear masks while indoors.

Teachers will be required to wear masks at all times when not actively teaching or communicating with students.

School and early childhood staff will be required to receive a third dose of a Covid-19 vaccine by February 25, if they are eligible, or within three months and two weeks of receiving a second dose to continue working.

Mr Merlino said the overwhelming majority of teachers supported vaccines, with 99.7 per cent of teaching staff double-vaccinated at the end of term four last year.

Air purifiers will also be delivered to schools. Picture: Tony Gough

It comes as the Premier flagged that a third dose may be required for Victorians to be considered fully vaccinated but a decision would be made by ATAGI.

“This is not two plus an optional. It’s three to be fully vaccinated… I think that will happen soon,” Mr Andrews said.

The education minister said increasing Covid cases were “inevitable” as school returned but the new measures would help limit the spread of the virus.

“Inevitably, due to Omicron, there will be an increase in cases, but the surveillance testing, the public health advice, the Doherty modelling, we identify those cases early, it will drive numbers down,” Mr Merlino said.

With high Covid-19 case numbers expected to be reported well into February, the education sector was preparing for workforce shortages.

To address the issue, education workers will be classed as critical workers, meaning household contacts of Covid cases will be allowed to voluntarily continue working if they are asymptomatic and return daily negative RATs.

The state government has also launched a pool of inactive teachers, education support staff and retired principals for schools to access for any Covid-related workforce shortages.

Both Victoria and NSW pitched reopening plans to national cabinet on Thursday, before Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that states would be responsible for their own blueprint.

The federal government will split the cost with states opting to test students and teachers.

WARNING AFTER OMICRON CASES PEAK

Victoria has recorded another 13,091 Covid cases and 14 deaths in the past 24 hours.

Hospital admissions have seen a slight dip, dropping to 1002 from 1029, while the number of Covid patients in ICU is unchanged at 120.

But the number of patients on a ventilator has increased from 39 to 44.

Chief health officer Brett Sutton on Sunday said the peak in Covid cases was “very likely behind us”.

But he warned that hospitals would continue to be overwhelmed in coming weeks.

“ICU cases and deaths haven’t peaked, but will hopefully stabilise soon,” he said

Meanwhile, 31 per cent of eligible Victorians have received a third vaccine dose.

It comes as doctors plead for elective surgeries to be gradually returned, with one surgeon forced to turn away patients in pain as he spends his day “mowing my lawns”.

A call for day surgeries to be reinstated follows a Victorian government U-turn on its ban on crucial IVF treatments this week.

Australian Orthopaedic Association Victorian branch chairman Adrian Trivett lashed the blanket ban on elective surgeries as a “blunt tool” that was leaving people in long-term pain.

Healthcare workers want Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews to lift the state’s ban on non-urgent elective surgery Picture: David Crosling

He said hospital wards that largely dealt with day surgeries were “empty with the lights off” and nursing staff and doctors were on leave because of “the lack of nuance to the approach to the problem”.

“There’s no doubt there’s capacity in the system to continue with some surgeries that are absolutely not life-threatening but they’re causing disability and pain and they’re not being attended to,” Dr Trivett said.

Gynaecologist Simon Gordon, who specialises in endometriosis, said all of his patients suffered from “chronic and severe pain” but were unable to have surgery.

“I’m at home mowing my lawns and turning the coffee machine on,” Dr Gordon said.

“Patients come to me and I say, ‘Look, I’m not allowed to operate’. Everyone is in the same boat and none of us are doing anything particularly useful.”

He said the nurses he worked with in operating theatres were “highly credentialed” but had “niche” skills that were not applicable to a Covid ward.

“We’re sitting around doing very little when we could be operating.”

Dr Trivett said surgeons were currently only allowed to perform “category 1” surgeries – those that are life- threatening or require immediate ­attention.

He said it was “unfair” that patients suffering pain should have their surgeries delayed given staff were largely not being reassigned to Covid wards.

He suggested that overall surgical capacity be reduced if needed, rather than a total ban.

A government spokesman said: “We thank Victorians for their patience as we’ve worked through furloughed workforces and the need to treat patients with life-threatening and emergency needs.

“We understand how difficult it is for those waiting for surgery and further advice is being sought from the Health Response Centre about other services that may … be restored without a critical impact on our current hospital workforce capacity.” The government “will work hard to address elective surgery waitlists” and Category 1 surgeries are continuing.

That comes as labs continue to be overrun by PCR test demand. But Victoria’s Covid Commander Jeroen Weimar signalled the state may have reached its Omicron peak. Daily Covid case numbers dipped to 16,016 on Saturday, with 1029 in hospital and 20 deaths overnight.

Originally published as 13,091 cases, 14 deaths; back-to-school plan revealed