Coronavirus: Victorian CHO’s tweets highlight split with Canberra on schools

The CHO has appeared to contradict the CMO, but Dan Andrews says there’s “no difference” between Victoria and Canberra on schools.

Victoria's Chief Health Officer has reiterated his advice that children should learn from home during Term Two, highlighting a split between Victoria and Canberra over the issue.

Victorian CHO Brett Sutton’s comments come after Prime Minister Scott Morrison stressed in a Facebook message on Wednesday morning that: “It's so important that children are able to keep physically going to school”.

Sutton’s advice also appears to conflict with that of his federal counterpart, Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy, who on Tuesday said he was concerned state governments were closing schools “not from a health recommendation but almost because of parental fear”.

It comes after Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews on Wednesday claimed there was “no difference” between his government’s approach to schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic and that of the federal government.

Taking to Twitter on Wednesday afternoon, Professor Sutton said: “My advice to the Victorian government was and continues to be that to slow the spread of coronavirus, schools should undertake remote learning for Term Two.”

“This is because having around a million children and their parents in closer contact with each other, teachers and other support staff has the potential to increase cases of coronavirus not just in schools but across the community,” Professor Sutton tweeted.

“By having remote learning, it can contribute to physical distancing and therefore supports efforts to drive transmission down.”

Professor Sutton's comments come after Professor Murphy told the New Zealand parliament's epidemic response committee on Tuesday that the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, of which Professors Sutton and Murphy are both members, had never recommended closing schools because there was no evidence of transmission between children “to any significant extent”.

“We’re concerned our governments are keeping schools closed not from a health recommendation but almost because of parental fear and some reaction in local governments,” Professor Murphy told the committee.

Victorian students began Term Two on Wednesday, having been told by the state government that “children who can learn from home, must learn from home”.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has meanwhile said: “the health advice is very clear, and that is the children are not at risk by going to school”.

Asked whether the Prime Minister’s comments were “unhelpful”, Mr Andrews said: “politicians running commentary on other politicians is probably the most unhelpful thing.”

“What I would say to you is this: and I’m politely declining your invitation to (run commentary),” Mr Andrews said.

“(Education Minister) Dan Tehan’s just been on the TV, and he’s made it very clear that our government and all governments across Australia know how important it is that every school should be open for those kids who can’t learn from home.

“There’s no difference in our approach.”

Mr Andrews said he was grateful to teachers, support staff, technicians and parents who had worked to enable schooling from home.

“It’s not easy to keep your kids home. I’m very, very grateful to parents who are doing that,” he said.

‘Absolutely consistent’

“That is them playing their part in stopping the spread of this virus, saving lives, protecting our health system.

“I think the federal Education Minister has made it abundantly clear that our settings are absolutely consistent with what every government in the country wants to see happen.

“Stay at home. Learn from home if you can. If, however, your circumstances mean that you can’t, school will be open for you, and the curriculum, the method of learning as well, will be identical.

“If you think about it, common sense simply dictates, if you’ve got a million kids getting to and from school, a full complement of teachers, people, parents moving around the community, dropping their kids off, picking them up, that is not at all consistent with our social distancing rules and it is not consistent with the sort of (coronavirus case) numbers that every single Victorian can be proud of. Some stability to numbers is critical. That is saving lives.”

Premier can’t say if every child has access to a laptop

Amid reports from numerous parents on social media and talkback radio that their children have not been provided with the laptops promised by the state government for home schooling, Mr Andrews said he would get Education Minister James Merlino to “come back to” journalists in response to a question over whether every child has access to a laptop.

“But it’s not just laptops, it’s USB sticks, there’s all manner of different tech, as well as some very old fashioned things: paper, pens, pencils, and Aussie Post. That’s being used a bit too,” Mr Andrews said.

“There’s a whole lot of stuff that’s been personally delivered to students.

“We’re being as flexible as we can. Technology is our friend in this, but sometimes the best innovation is common sense, and that’s what’s being used across the board.”

Premier’s kids home schooling

Mr Andrews said his own three secondary school-aged children were learning from home with his wife Cath.

“I can tell you that our kids are all at home, and Cath’s at home as well. She works from home, and it’ll be challenging,” he said.

“It’ll be difficult at times, but it’s our contribution, like so many other families, we’re no different to any other family, we’re making a contribution towards slowing, stopping the spread of this virus.

“Now not every family can do that, for a range of reasons.

“They’re at work, they don’t work from home for instance, or they’ve got some IT issues, or the kids are vulnerable for one reason or another.

“That’s why the schools are open, but if you can learn from home, you must learn from home.”