Tasmania goes own way on rapid antigen tests for students as school returns

ABC Tasmania |7 February 2022

Tasmania’s public health authority has defended its decision not to recommend Tasmanian school students undertake twice weekly rapid COVID tests, in contrast to Australia’s most populous states.

Key points:

– Students in NSW, Victoria and ACT have to taken two RATs a week to check if they have COVID

– Tasmanian students will only be given up to two RATs a week if they have COVID symptoms

– Tasmania’s public health authority says students don’t need frequent testing because there’s lower COVID transmission than on the mainland

In New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT, primary and secondary school students are required to take rapid antigen tests (RATs) twice a week, regardless of whether they have COVID symptoms.

In New South Wales, students are advised to take a RAT before they start school for the year to confirm they don’t have COVID.

In Tasmania, students will get a COVID care package containing two RATs before they return to school, with the RATs only to be used if the student has COVID symptoms.

If they have symptoms again, they’ll get up to two RATs per week.

Deputy Public Health Director Scott McKeown said the recommendation not to undertake surveillance testing of students was based on the level of COVID transmission in Tasmania.

“Other states are putting in place other testing regimes, they have much higher levels of transmission,” Dr McKeown said.

“We’ve been very lucky to date to have lower levels of transmission and our advice around RAT testing for students and staff is also consistent with our broader recommendation for the Tasmanian public, and different workforces including health care workers and residential aged care workers.”

Dr McKeown said children were less likely, compared with adults, to pass on COVID to others.

“People who are asymptomatic, without coughing and sneezing and runny noses, are much less likely to transmit COVID than a person with symptoms.”

He said public health advice to the education department was based on outbreak data and trials of regular RAT testing in other states.

Independent Nelson MLC Meg Webb said the community needed to know the basis for the public health advice around not conducting surveillance testing of students.

“We know the Omicron COVID variant is more transmissible than the Delta strain,” she said.

“Surely it makes more sense to catch potential student and teaching staff COVID cases before they enter the classroom, rather than wait for symptoms to arise?”

Ms Webb said Tasmania must learn from the experiences of states where public school students had already returned to the classroom.

“South Australia has reported that at least 300 school staff were absent on their first school day this term due to COVID, so it stands to reason our school communities may experience a similar situation,” she said.

“The Gutwein government will claim its COVID-19 back to school plan is consistent with the National Cabinet agreement.

“However, I’m equally sure NSW, Victoria and the ACT will assert the same.”

Education department secretary Tim Bullard said 64,500 COVID care packs containing two RATs each had been distributed to schools and would be given to parents before classes started on Wednesday.

He said all aspects of the back-to-school plan, including the provision of RATs, were based on public health advice.

“Public health has advised us that given the current outbreak of COVID in Tasmania, our best approach, and this is public health advice, is to test when symptomatic,” Mr Bullard said.

Mr Bullard said it was normal for parents and students to feel anxious about returning to school while there was COVID in the community.

But he said schools are well prepared and “in a good place”.

“If there’s any type of symptom that any of those students or teachers have, they have open access to tests,” he said.

“And as is advice generally in the community, we’re saying to those teachers and students if you’re symptomatic please do not come to school, have a test and follow public health advice.”

See Meg’s Media Release.

See more of Meg’s recent media.