As children return to school in Western Australia, the Education Minister has warned unvaccinated parents risk not being allowed to volunteer in the classroom when COVID-19 case numbers rise.
Sue Ellery said in other states, no unvaccinated adults were being allowed on school sites today, with case numbers in the thousands.
She said with WA currently experiencing a low caseload, the advice from the Chief Health Officer (CHO) was that the existing settings for education sites were appropriate.
"Right now, the setting is you must be vaccinated if you're going to be in a school more than once a week," Ms Ellery said.
"That will change when the CHO gives us the advice on what else we need to do when case numbers go up."
Ms Ellery said it was "most likely" unvaccinated people could expect they would not be able to attend school premises for activities like volunteering.
She said there were no plans for mandatory vaccines for children.
Preparing for increased cases
The government had announced 12,000 air purifiers would be rolled out to schools to improve ventilation for the new term.
Ms Ellery said all schools had their purifiers, which included high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters.
She said not all of the purifiers were in classrooms , with plans to "move them around as seasons change".
As flagged in last week's announcement about changes for schools, Ms Ellery said younger children from year 3 would be expected to wear masks when the COVID-19 caseload increased.
The Education Minister said students below that level would also be encouraged to wear masks where possible.
School closures should be 'last resort': Expert
The head of the Telethon Kids Institute said COVID-19 safety measures in schools would need to be monitored closely as community spread increases.
Institute Director and infectious disease expert Jonathan Carapetis said the use of masks, increased ventilation, and HEPA filters could reduce the risk of transmission by about 50 per cent.
"All three are critical," Professor Carapetis said.
"If all the elements of the COVID-safe plan for schools are implemented – ventilation, HEPA filters, and the like – then schools are a safe environment."
But he flagged the need for further measures to be implemented in the future, including vaccination requirements for visitors and testing regimes for staff and students.
"At some point, we might want to consider a testing regiment. That's an important part of a COVID-safe schools environment when there's high levels of community transmission," he said.
"By the time that happens in Western Australia, we'll have seen what's happening with the surveillance program using [rapid antigen tests] in Victoria and New South Wales.
"We'll get a pretty good idea of how effective it is.
"That's something that the West Australian plan needs to be able to adapt to and accommodate."
"It's going to be really important that we monitor, as the cases increase, who does get access to school grounds," he said.
Professor Carapetis said closing schools and stopping face-to-face classes should only be considered as a last resort.
"There will be times when there's widespread transmission where there might need to be a transient period where kids ... need to go back to online learning," he said.
"As much as possible, schools should be the last to close, and the first to open."
Around 90 teachers, assistants missing
Ms Ellery said the final figure for how many education staff were fully vaccinated was expected tomorrow, with today the final day for them to upload proof.
"I can tell you though in terms of those teachers and education assistants who uploaded dose one, it's about 0.5 per cent who did not, so we would expect the same kind of numbers tomorrow," she said.
"It's about 90 [teachers and assistants].
"Having said that, there is a teacher in front of every classroom today."
Ms Ellery said the Education Department and schools had worked hard to fill vacancies across the state, with more than 700 new graduates entering classrooms today.
