22 June 2022

ACT reports 1085 new COVID infections; 10 school cohorts now learning remotely

| Lottie Twyford
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Macgregor Primary School

Macgregor Primary School is only the second school this term to send its entire student body home as staff shortages made remaining on campus impossible. Photo: Macgregor Primary School.

Two more ACT public schools have switched to remote learning as COVID-19 continues to make it impossible to keep all students on campus.

In total, there are now 10 ACT public schools employing remote learning.

It comes as ACT Health confirms 1085 new COVID-19 infections in the last reporting period.

Years 3 to 6 at Florey Primary School and 5 to 8 at Amaroo School are the latest cohorts to switch to remote learning. Florey students will be at home for the rest of this week while Amaroo students won’t be back until next Wednesday (29 June).

It follows yesterday’s news that for the second time this term, a public school had sent all its students home to learn remotely, meaning it has moved to Level 4, the highest level of contingency planning under the ACT Education Directorate’s staff shortage plan.

Previously, only the small specialist school Black Mountain moved to this level of pandemic management.

Students at Macgregor Primary School will remain at home for the rest of the week (including a school planning day scheduled for Friday, 24 June) before returning to campus on Monday.

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Preschool students at Ngunnawal Primary School and Year 5 and 6 students at Turner Primary School will finish remote learning today.

Years 1 to 4 at Harrison School will be learning remotely until Thursday (23 June) but will not return to campus until next week as a school planning day is scheduled for Friday (24 June).

Years 7 to 8 at Caroline Chisholm School will also be at home for the rest of the week, as will K to 2 students at Mount Rogers Primary School and Years 1 and 2 at Isabella Plains Early Childhood School.

Years 3 to 5 students at Kingsford Smith School will also learn remotely for the rest of the week (including a school planning day scheduled for Friday, 24 June).

The multiple moves to remote learning come as reported COVID-19 cases in schools continue to increase. During the week ending Sunday, 19 June, 598 cases of COVID-19 were reported in 73 ACT public schools (years K-12).

Last week, 519 cases of COVID-19 were reported across 72 ACT public schools (years K-12).

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With the 1085 (550 PCR and 535 RAT) cases recorded overnight, there are now 5532 (2897 PCR and 2635 RAT) active infections in the Territory.

A total of 148,996 (89,731 PCR and 59,265 RAT) COVID-19 cases have been recorded since the pandemic began in March 2020.

Yesterday, the ACT reported 869 new COVID-19 infections and there were 87 people in hospital.

Today, 85 people in the Territory’s hospitals are being cared for with COVID-19. Of these, one person is in the ICU, but no one requires ventilation.

The double-dose vaccination rate for the ACT’s five-plus population remains 97.3 per cent and 77.1 per cent of residents aged 16 and older have received a booster.

Of ACT residents aged five to 11, 68.6 per cent have received two doses of vaccine.

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Interstate, NSW has reported 26 deaths overnight and 9472 new cases of COVID-19.

There are now 1499 people in hospital with the virus and 51 people in ICUs around the state.

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