Primary students in Western Australia may have to wear masks at some point during the upcoming school year, Premier Mark McGowan has flagged.
Currently, only high school students will be required to wear masks in the classroom when school goes back.
Outlining the new measures, Mr McGowan said all 900 public schools across the state had been inspected to check the ventilation of every classroom.
He said over 12,000 air purifiers and CO2 monitors were being provided for classrooms that required them.
Proof of vaccination will be required for staff and regular visitors to the school, and there are contingency plans in place for remote learning for any students that have to isolate.
Upper school students would be required to wear masks "in line with the current measures in Perth, Peel and the South West," the Premier said.
"All of this contributes to ensure schools will be as safe as possible for students," he said.
"It also allows for a degree of flexibility, with the ability to hold classes in alternative settings if needed, and the ability to ramp up if required with expanded mask-wearing requirements for younger students if the Chief Health Officer advises it.
"We retain the capacity to boost measures in the event of a large-scale outbreak."
The plan was released as the Premier announced there had been 15 new community transmitted COVID cases in the state, with two of those cases in hospital, one of whom is in intensive care.
Masks would be for year 3 up: Ellery
Education Minister Sue Ellery said the mask rule would apply to students in year 3 and above, once a high caseload was reached.
Ms Ellery said 97.5 per cent of teachers had supplied their employer with their vaccine information. Teachers return to work on Thursday, with the school year commencing next Monday.
She said any staffing gaps would be plugged by a "flying squad" of cleaning staff, along with a pool of about 5,000 fully vaccinated casual teachers.
She said there were also trained teachers available who were performing hands-on teaching roles who could be made available.
Union concerned about staffing
But State School Teachers Union WA secretary Pat Byrne said the casual pool numbers did not seem different to what was available in other years.
She said the union had concerns about the capacity for those staff from central office to be deployed to regional areas "where there may well be accommodation problems".
Ms Byrne said a teacher shortage existed before coronavirus and was growing, even without COVID-enforced absences.
But she also reiterated her support for the WA government's decision to keep the border closed.
“The critical step now though is to make sure that time is not wasted. That in the next however many weeks we have, every possible step is being put in place," she said.
Of particular concern to the union were isolation protocols for schools without sick bays, where unwell students with COVID-19 symptoms could stay until they could be picked up.
Parents' visiting rules worry teachers
Ms Ellery said all parents could come onto school sites for "drop-offs, pick-ups, meetings with staff, assemblies and sports carnivals".
"Those parents who come into a school to do volunteer work more than once a week will be required to show evidence of their vaccination status," she said.
But Ms Byrne said that protocol meant a parent could spend the day at school without having to be isolated.
"[The government] is saying 'you as a teacher cannot be employed if you are not double-vaxxed', but in fact as a parent you can come onto a school site and work for a number of hours during a day," she said.
"I think that is an issue that teachers would be very concerned about."
School RATs policy to be set this week
The Minister said if a child tested positive, they and their family would have to isolate for 14 days, as would all of their class.
But Ms Ellery said depending on the health advice, the entire school may also be closed while close and casual contacts were identified.
She said the State Disaster Council was meeting on Friday to discuss further measures that would apply in the advent of a major outbreak, including the approach to using rapid antigen tests.
In New South Wales students are required to take two of these tests per week during the first week of school as part of a mass surveillance program.
Hospitals will suffer if schools close: ANF
Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) state secretary Mark Olson said it was critical for schools to remain open so healthcare staff could send their children to school and continue working.
"I got the message that [the government] really are going to work hard to keep these schools open if we have a surge of COVID across the community," he said.
"If we don't, that's going to exacerbate severely the workforce shortages in our hospitals … and our aged care facilities."
But he said the government's plan raised questions regarding its consistency.
"If a child gets COVID, the whole family needs to isolate for 14 days, yet if one of those people in the family is a healthcare worker, is a nurse or a midwife, they'll only have to isolate for seven days," he said.
Mr Olsen called for more details from the state government regarding how it planned to combat Omicron infections.
"I am looking forward to more details on Friday … we're all suffering from not getting the details that we need," he said.
