Students at two eastern Sydney schools - only three minutes' drive apart - were rushed home on Tuesday after two confirmed coronavirus cases.
The schools, Waverley College and Moriah College, evacuated students immediately after being notified of positive COVID-19 tests for a year 7 student and primary school student. Both school campuses are undergoing thorough cleaning.
Some parents took their children immediately to Bondi's pop-up testing clinic. NSW Health has begun tracing all close contacts of the two students to ensure against further transmission.
Police monitor the evacuation at Waverley College.Credit:Louise Kennerley
The schools are located within the Waverley and Bondi Beach area - the site of Australia's largest coronavirus hotspot at the peak of the epidemic in March and April.
The two cases come a day after NSW Health detected a COVID case in a 71-year-old eastern suburbs resident raising concerns of continued community spread in the area.
NSW Health informed Moriah College of the positive case 15 minutes after Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said the state government had "made the right call" in re-opening schools at a press conference to report Monday’s case numbers.
Ms Mitchell said coronavirus cases in students would re-occur during the pandemic but that schools were prepared to respond appropriately.
"There will be occasions [when] we do have a positive case that affects a school community," she said.
"Parents should know that we do have good systems in place, we’ve got good processes that can protect their children and it’s something we’re going to have to live with."
Professor Kristine Macartney at the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance said she was expecting very little COVID-19 transmission within schools.
"But it is important to remember that as restrictions lift people will be moving around the community, and as the Premier has said, we expect cases to occur," she said.
"The critical part is that we respond to those cases quickly, that they are detected quickly and that we limit onward transmission."
Both Waverley and Moriah colleges enacted their prepared COVID-19 evacuation plans on Tuesday.
Parents of Waverley College senior school students were sent a message about 9am telling them to collect their children, while those who could not be picked up were sent home on the school's private buses. Some parents drove their sons straight to Bondi's pop-up testing clinic.
Some students leave Waverley College on private buses.Credit:Louise Kennerley
A spokeswoman for Waverley College said the year 7 student with COVID-19 had not been at school since last Friday and first experienced symptoms on the weekend.
She the school had been preparing for a coronavirus outbreak "for months" to deliver online schooling in the event of an extended closure. "The school is very prepared for this, being in a coronavirus hotspot," she said.
On Monday NSW Health reported a 71-year-old woman from Sydney's eastern suburbs was one of three newly confirmed cases.
Moriah College told parents it was "important that students go directly home" about midday after NSW Health informed the school a primary student had tested positive for COVID-19.
The student who tested positive for the virus last attended the primary school on Thursday. The Moriah campus will be closed until Monday, but teaching and learning will continue online.
The Waverley College spokeswoman said she was unaware of any relation to the Moriah College case.
NSW Health did not respond to questions regarding whether the cases may be linked or if the student's symptoms were mild or serious.
"NSW Health confirms numbers every day with cases over the previous 24 hour period. Any cases confirmed after 8pm the previous night will be confirmed the next day," NSW Health said in an emailed response to questions.
There have been 23 cases of coronavirus in schools during the pandemic, 14 at public schools and nine at independent schools, but no confirmed cases of transmission on school grounds.
The source of a case at Riverview, which was temporarily closed last week, is still unknown and under investigation. There have been no secondary cases detected, but NSW Health cannot rule out the possibility other cases will be found, considering the student tested positive fewer than 14 days ago.
Natassia is the education reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.
Kate Aubusson is Health Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald.
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2020-05-26 08:47:39Z
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