Schools shut but no lockdown: Andrews
THREE Geelong schools, a childcare centre and a prominent waterfront restaurant were all hit by coronavirus on Monday.
Grovedale West and Drysdale primary schools were closed because of confirmed cases and Clonard College will close for a week after confirming one of its students had the virus.
“This closure will allow time for the college and the Department of Health and Human Services to work through a contact and containment strategy,” Clonard parents were told by letter.
The school said students who had been in contact with the affected student would be contacted within 24 hours and told how to respond.
“Students are advised to remain at home while contact tracing occurs,” the college said.
Earlier, Premier Daniel Andrews said he had not been advised to lock Geelong down after the spike in cases.
The DHHS confirmed Drysdale and Grovedale West primary schools were both closed for cleaning and further investigation after notification of a case.
The news prompted Drysdale Football Club to suspend junior training for 48 hours, and the school plans to reopen today.
Moorabool St restaurant Sailors’ Rest also confirmed on social media that a patron who visited its upstairs lounge on Friday was now a confirmed carrier of the virus.
And Goodstart
Early
Learning in Grovedale w closed for deep cleaning after a staff member tested positive to the virus. Parents were informed of the case on Monday night.
Two new coronavirus cases were added to the Greater Geelong tally on Monday, taking its overall tally to 84, 13 of them active. Another new case was added to Golden Plains’ tally, with six confirmed cases including five active.
Victoria reported 275 new coronavirus cases on Monday, taking the state tally of active cases to 2913.
One new fatality, a woman in her 80s, took the death toll to 39.
The Education Department spokesman refused to specify if the cases at Drysdale and Grovedale West primary schools were students or teachers.
“Geelong is obviously a much bigger community than many other regional cities,” Mr Andrews said.
“So the number of cases as a raw measure is probably not the best guide.
“Also a really important factor is how well contained they are, how many exposure days were there before we knew that there was a positive case, how confident are we that people are being traced, that people are staying at home.”