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‘Common sense’: SA teachers call for school mask mandate

The head of the SA teachers’ union says face masks should be compulsory inside classrooms once schools return next week, but the Education Department says at this stage, masks are only recommended.

Jul 19, 2022, updated Jul 19, 2022
Photo: Bianca De Marchi/AAP

Photo: Bianca De Marchi/AAP

It comes ahead of an Emergency Management Council meeting this morning, during which authorities are likely to discuss whether to reimpose a mask mandate in schools for the start of Term 3 on Monday.

Australian Education Union state branch president Andrew Gohl told InDaily that a school mask mandate “makes sense” given the rise in the number of COVID infections and the increased transmissibility of the new Omicron subvariants, BA.4 and BA.5.

He said while the union was pleased with the roll-out of about 4000 air purifiers in schools earlier this year, ventilation in classrooms was still poor during winter.

“It’s common sense really,” he said.

“Given the difficulties we have in replacing staff and the work load that that creates when those staff aren’t replaced, it makes sense to do everything we can to slow the spread of this variant.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re working in a kindy, a primary school or a high school – everyone is suffering staffing shortages as a result of either people having the virus or having to be home looking after a child who has the virus.

“I’m really surprised it (a mask mandate) hasn’t been spoken about earlier.”

The Emergency Management Council scrapped a previous school mask mandate in May, with Premier Peter Malinauskas at the time describing the move as an “important step forward” for students wanting to return to a “normal learning environment”.

Some classes or entire schools had earlier entered into “circuit-breaker” closures in Terms 1 and 2 due to COVID-19 outbreaks.

Gohl said the rate of teacher absenteeism experienced during the first half of this year was “unsustainable”, despite efforts by the Education Department to encourage more teachers to do relief work.

He said unless a mask mandate was imposed, more schools could be forced to temporarily shut in Term 3 in response to virus outbreaks.

“You want to be able to maintain a coherent learning program for students and that requires people to take the necessary precautions,” he said.

“A mask mandate is one of those measures that’s annoying but it can be easily implemented.”

An Education Department spokesperson told InDaily that at this stage, its mask policy wouldn’t change.

The department’s current policy states face masks are strongly recommended but not required for all adults (including visitors) while inside school buildings, except when teaching or interacting with children.

Masks are also strongly recommended but not required for students in Years 3 to 12 while indoors.

Anyone aged over 12 who is a close contact of a positive case is required to wear a mask, as are unvaccinated people.

The department’s policy states face masks “will be temporarily required to be worn in education settings when COVID-19 transmission reaches certain outbreak thresholds, based on SA Health advice”.

“The department continually works with SA Health to understand case trends and iterative requirements that may need to be put in place to response to COVID-19,” the spokesperson said.

“Mask settings at this stage will be the same at the start of Term 3 as they were for the end of Term 2.”

Health Minister Chris Picton told ABC Radio Adelaide yesterday that he was “sure” that the return to school would be discussed at this morning’s Emergency Management Council meeting, but he didn’t want to “pre-empt that discussion”.

He said the government didn’t need to declare another public health or state emergency to reintroduce a school mask mandate.

“There has never been an emergency declaration in relation to schools – that’s been a policy setting that schools have determined,” he said.

“Clearly, we need to look at how we work with our schools – with non-government schools as well – to make sure that they’re safe in the midst of this current wave.

“The important factor is clearly going to be what our updated modelling looks like in terms of when we expect to see the peak of cases and what the various impacts of measures such as increased use of antivirals will have in terms of that pressure across our system.”

Authorities are also set to discuss updated modelling, the hospital system and elective surgery proposals at this morning’s meeting.

South Australia yesterday reported 4053 new COVID cases – up from 3358 yesterday – but it was the hospitalisation rate which had authorities most concerned.

The state hit a new record of 306 patients with COVID in hospital, including 11 in intensive care.

The previous record was 294 in January.

Chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier said the state would hit its caseload peak this week.

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