More than 3300 Victorian school students and staff have tested positive for COVID-19 in their first week back in the classroom as the state government announces non-urgent elective surgery will resume next week.
“The return to the classroom for 2022 has been enthusiastically embraced by the vast majority of Victorian students and families, with the attendance rate for government school students this week within the normal range of attendance typically seen in the first week of the school year.” Mr Foley said the surgeries had to be put on hold because of the “huge pressure” the Omicron strain of the virus had placed on the health system.
“Our health system continues to be the subject of unprecedented levels of demand from this Omicron wave, now truly into our second year of this global pandemic,” Mr Foley said. “It’s important we collectively work to ensure that our emergency services are there for those who need it in an emergency,” Mr Walker said.Victoria’s code brown designation – which affects metropolitan and major regional hospitals and means less urgent services can be deferred – is likely to remain in place for a number of weeks, Mr Foley said.
Of the new cases reported in Victoria on Friday, 3889 were confirmed by PCR tests, while 7351 were self-reported from rapid antigen tests. Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said on Thursday that coronavirus deaths among elderly Australians and aged care residents would continue to rise in the coming weeks.
And the AEU accepted a 2% pay rise for teachers today.
Don’t know why people are testing with no symptoms. We are stockpiling the RATs until we actually need them.
If you'd ask me to guess a number a week ago, with every student and staff member being tested, I would have guessed a lot more.