A primary school in the border town of Wodonga also shut its doors on Monday and sent all children and staff home after two students attended a tier-one exposure site on the weekend.

The two students at St Monica’s have not tested positive to the virus,however the school has been closed as a precaution.

Principal Jacqui Partington wrote to the school community earlier today,notifying them of an immediate shutdown and directing all students and anyone who has been on site to “isolate immediately until further notice”.

“We will remain shut down until we know for certain that it is safe to return to site,” Ms Partington wrote.

St Monica’s is the fourth Victorian school to close in the past 24 hours,following the closure of St Patrick’s Primary in Murrumbeena,Bacchus Marsh Grammar and Barwon Heads Primary.

Many schools also told their students to take their things home as the school bell rang on Thursday afternoon in anticipation of a return to remote learning.

Tina King,the acting president of the Australian Principals’ Federation,said schools were preparing for an imminent announcement.

“I’ve spoken to a few secondary principals,they are telling their kids,take your stuff home tonight just in case,” she said.

Ms King said schools had plenty of practice in making a swift transition to remote learning and could potentially do so tomorrow.
“We’ve learnt how quickly we can do that transition,” she said.

The list of high-risk exposure sites now includes 80 exposure sites,including public transport routes,a CBD pub,the MCG,Highpoint Shopping Centre and DFO University Hill in Bundoora. The men’s toilet at Oakleigh shopping centrewas added as a tier-1 location on Thursday afternoon.

Western Australia on Wednesday enforced new border restrictions on visitors from Victoria,who must isolate for 14 days upon entering the state,while South Australia also tightened restrictions for Victorians,requiring them to undertake a COVID-19 test within 24 hours of arriving and not enter high-risk settings such as aged care for 14 days after arriving.

Four of the cases announced on Wednesday were residents of the Ariele Apartments complex at Maribyrnong in Melbourne’s north-west. The parents of one of those residents,a man in his 60s,also tested positive,making cases five and six.

The seventh reported case was the man in his 30s who visited the Coles in Craigieburn Central.

Case eight was a teacher from Bacchus Marsh Grammar who watched the Carlton versus Geelong AFL match at the MCG on Saturday with a friend who lives in the Ariele Apartments.

Two of his family members have also tested positive,becoming cases nine and 10.

Both Bacchus Marsh Grammar and Barwon Heads Primary School remain closed today after a positive case visited each school.

Mr Weimar said 315 members of staff at Bacchus Marsh Grammar were in isolation as primary close contacts,and 3000 students at the school were in isolation as secondary close contacts.

He said 49 staff and 527 students at Barwon Heads Primary had been identified as either primary or secondary close contacts.

“We’ve got local testing set up ... the school community has been fantastic,” Mr Weimar said.

“I know it’s such a distressing and complex time to be dealing with these outbreaks.

“We are working of course to get the primary close contacts tested,and as we have that information in the next day or so,[that’s] going to allow us to get a more informed position on how we deal with the schools going forward.”

Victorian restrictions expected to be tightened

The Victorian Department of Health announced late on Wednesday evening that mask-wearing rules would be reintroduced from 11.59pm on Wednesday.

Masks must now be worn in all indoor areas,including in all workplaces and secondary schools.

Additional restrictions for Victoria are expected to be announced at a press conference later on Thursday afternoon.

Some experts have called for a return to work-from-home rules,while other restrictions announced on Thursday could include indoor crowd limits and restrictions on the number of visitors permitted in homes.

Monash University Associate Professor James Trauer told Seven’sSunriseon Thursday morning a lockdown for Victoria “seems likely”.

“We have seen increasing cases over the last few days,more exposure sites every day and we know that if we go early with lockdowns,the earlier we go,the shorter they need to be,” he said.

“We need to get on top of this and we still don’t really understand the scale of the number of cases that have been created at the moment. I would really support an early lockdown.”

Experts watching Maribyrnong apartment complex infections closely

Dr Finn Romanes,who runs the Western Public Health Unit responsible for contact tracing in Melbourne’s western suburbs,said there were 153 close contacts in quarantine at the Ariele Apartments:121 residents and 32 visitors.

While the data was still being analysed by public health teams,Dr Romanes told ABC Radio Melbourne it looked like the period between infections was dropping.

“Clearly,things are moving very fast... so what previously we saw around about three days between each circle of cases developing – one group of people would potentially infect another and at about three days later,you would see these cycles or generations of cases,” he said.

“Here within this outbreak since the exposures on the eighth and then the cases first coming to light on Sunday,we’ve got,it’s down to about two days,so it’s moving every couple of days,we’re seeing another ring of cases developed.

“So it’s absolutely crucial that the people take a series of steps now... but even double down on those steps to move ahead of that and get as fast as we can.”

The priority at any exposure site was to account for all the residents on the day or days of concern,but also to make sure everyone they dealt with received “COVID first aid”,Dr Romanes said.

“It’s reaching out to them,making sure they’re in isolation and getting tested and finding out their social circumstances.”

There were 27,061 COVID-19 test results processed in the 24 hours to midnight on Wednesday,and more than 15,161 people received their vaccine doses.

With Adam Carey,Kate Rose,Broede Carmody,Michael Fowler,Annika Smethurst and Sumeyya Ilanbey

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