Queensland’s students will return to school two weeks later than planned as COVID-19 cases surge, and public health experts say other states should consider doing the same.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced on Sunday that the start of the school year would be delayed from January 24 to February 7., was expected to reach its peak in virus cases during that extra fortnight of holidays.
Year 12 students will return a week earlier, with online learning starting on January 31, while all other year levels will have an extra week of classes in December to make up for the loss of teaching time in term one.The delay comes as doctors report hold-ups in the vaccination rollout for five- to 11-year-olds, as staff shortages among medical practitioners and the logistics workers transporting the jabs forces appointments to be pushed back.
“[They] might rationally delay term start by two weeks to reduce the number of infections among children as low as practicable, and allow more kids to get vaccinated,” Professor Blakely said., the case for delaying it in NSW and Victoria was weaker.
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