a week later on December 16 instead of December 9. The decision was made as health officials said modelling showed the Omicron wave would peak in the last week of January and the first week of February.
Authorities want to avoid sending young, unvaccinated children to school in that period, and also expect many staff will be infected with the virus or forced to quarantine, causing shortages. Education Minister Grace said the state government wanted to give as much certainty as possible to families.
She stated that “We don’t want parents having to have snap closures of schools because we don’t have staff or because there’s an outbreak, it’s best that we look at this probably under the best health advice that we can get in the country.”
Like other states and territories, Queensland starts vaccinating children aged five to 11 from today. Sarah Bone has three children, including her 12-year-old son Hayden who has ADHD. She said it did not seem like the government had thought about how the delay would impact children with learning difficulties.
Ms Bone said “My son lives with ADHD and other issues and it’s always been a challenge to get him back to school, Another two weeks and just a lack of consistency and the uncertainty that this brings will make it really difficult and challenging when the time does come to return to school. The longer off … he has always, and neurodiverse children have, the more challenging it will be to return and get back into that routine.”
The government said it was hoping there would be enough staff to supervise vulnerable children and children of essential workers.
Ms Bone said there needed to be more concrete information about the help available.
“I think the reality is this wasn’t unexpected, but when we deliver news like that we need to also come up with information like what is the support plan, what else is there for these families during this time.
“It’s not just this is the expectation on families, it should be these are services and support to help you through these difficult times.”
