St. Mary’s Primary School third grade students attended class while it was contagious
A student from the last Victorian elementary school closed due to coronavirus exposure attended class while infectious.
Health Secretary Jenny Mikakos confirmed the third grade student was at St. Mary’s Primary School in Hampton for the past week before testing positive on Saturday.
Her parents have been notified and the contact follow-up is ongoing.
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A letter to headmaster Matthew Sweeney’s parents, seen on 7NEWS.com.au, said the school will be closed until Thursday.
“I understand that this news worries many of you,” the letter said.
“I want to assure you that we are doing everything we can to contain and slow the spread of the virus and to ensure the health and safety of our entire school community.”
The closure allows thorough cleaning and contact tracing.
Chief Health Officer Dr. Brett Sutton said that face-to-face courses that were conducted safely would be reviewed.
“Of course, when there are millions of children in school and thousands of teachers, these community events will be in these environments,” he said.
“So I don’t think this is a reason to close schools at this point, but as I have said with all of these decisions, it is checked every day.”
Three other Victorian schools will be closed for part of the coming week.
A teacher from Albanvale Primary School in west Melbourne and a teacher from Springside Primary School in Caroline Springs both tested positive on Saturday.
A student at Camberwell Grammar School also tested positive.
These three schools will be closed until Wednesday for contact tracing and deep cleaning.
