ACT school, childcare COVID rules to be relaxed in coming weeks

While other states including NSW race ahead with relaxing school guidelines, the ACT still has some of the strictest rules in the country, especially for children enrolled in childcare.

Acting chief health officer Dr Vanessa Johnston said ACT Health had notified the Education Directorate on how its advice would evolve over the next few weeks, flagging changes would definitely be in place by the start of term 2.

"We've taken a giant leap forward in terms of ... particularly for the [kindergarten] to [year] 12 age group not immediately quarantining people that have been exposed to COVID on campus and I think that's made a significant difference to the educational experience of those children and to their parents and families," Dr Johnston said.

"It's ever-evolving again and, yes, I think we will see a relaxation over the coming weeks and certainly next term."

She said a consultation forum was held with the early childhood sector on Thursday and the Education Directorate was expected to make changes "in the short term."

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Children in early learning settings are required to go into isolation for one week and be tested twice each time there is a case in their room in the centre.

Parents said this was causing disruption to their work and family life as their children were repeatedly sent into isolation for a week at a time.

Dr Johnston said the risk was seen as higher in these settings because of close contact between educators and children and the fact children under five could not be vaccinated.

"We recognise the impact on families and now that we've seen that the uptick in cases in that age group doesn't translate to serious disease we feel much more confident to move forward to better align the risk assessment into line with the [kindergarten] to [year] 12."

She said under a new plan educators would not necessarily need to do an assessment of high, medium or low risk but people exposed to the virus would be notified and be tested. This could also reduce the administrative burden for staff.

Dr Johnston praised the efforts of schools and the early childhood sector who had taken on sole responsibility for contact-tracing.

The Education Directorate was also reviewing the restrictions on public school camps, excursions and visitors to campus.

The ACT recorded 794 new COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours to 8pm Thursday. There were 35 people in hospital and one person under ventilation.

Children from five to 11 will be able to get their second COVID vaccine dose from Monday, March 11.

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