Covid Mandates for Schools Once More! By Brian Simpson
It’s back! You did not think it would go away did you? The Covid mandates raised their hydra head once more in Sydney public schools this week, and even one university campus has brought back the good old masks, that have been shown to contaminate the lungs with microplastics, and are useless, as numerous studies, such as the major Cochrane review have shown. No matter, the schools have closed, and remote learning is supposed to go on, which will just be more time for students to be on their mobile phones and social media, unsupervised. This shows that nothing has changed, and the system will be ready to go back into viral freak-out mode once more if Covid numbers climb, or the next big viral thing makes a dramatic entrance.
“Almost a dozen public schools have returned to remote learning this week amid COVID-19 outbreaks that have also prompted one Sydney campus to reinstate a temporary mask mandate.
Hundreds of students in years 9, 10 and 11 at Liverpool Girls High School have been told to learn from home, while the school announced masks would be compulsory for pupils and teachers on school grounds for several days.
About 20 per cent of the high school’s teaching staff have either contracted COVID or are off work with symptoms, forcing the secondary students to revert to online learning for three days.
A NSW Department of Education spokesperson said teacher shortages were a factor in the decision to move some year groups to at-home learning.
“We are working hard to get to the root cause of the crisis to ensure disruption is minimised,” they said. “The decision to return to COVID-safe measures at a school is made after a thorough risk assessment with the wellbeing and safety of students and staff our key consideration.
“We know the best place for our students is the classroom. Learning from home is used for a short period of time when increased cases impact a large number of staff and students.”
In a social media post on Tuesday, Liverpool Girls High said an increase in COVID cases in the community meant mask wearing would be mandatory for all staff, students and visitors for five days from May 16.
Cammeray Public School on the north shore moved some students to remote learning for two days this week, while several schools in the state’s central west including Orange High School, Martindale Public, Parkes High, and Yawarra Community School have also asked students to learn from home for part of the week.”
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