Premier Steven Marshall and Education Minister John Gardner addressed the South Australian public this afternoon with the latest information on the evolving COVID-19 situation in SA.
In the 24 hours to midnight last night, there has been a decrease to 1,505 cases of COVID-19 confirmed in SA.
Out of the reported cases, 1,113 were confirmed via PCR tests, and 332 were confirmed via the rapid antigen tests (RATs). Today’s confirmed cases are the lowest SA have reported all year. Marhsall said the number of positive cases is below the 7-day average.
Hospitalisations have increased slightly to 281 with 25 people in ICU and four on ventilators.
The state’s active cases have dropped down to 19,847 which is now below 20,000. The total number of recovered cases today is 2,227, which Marshall said is significantly below the number of positive cases.
Sadly, there have been six deaths in the past 24 hours.
South Australia saw a low day of testing of Sunday with 8,880 PCR tests, while 2,092 RATs were collected.
Marshall encouraged people to continue getting PCR tests as they are the most accurate form of testing.
Yesterday, there was 6,472 vaccinations administered. Marshall said while the numbers are good, South Australians could be doing more.
“South Australia has the highest booster rate of any state in Australia, but I am not satisfied – when I look at the available appointments there are so many opportunities to get vaxxed,” he said.
“We may be at the top, but we’re short of what we could do. We know those not fully vaccinated, are massively over represented in our UCI stats.
“My strong plea to South Australian’s is to go and get that booster when you are eligible.”
OUR LEARNING SA
Gardner spoke on the new resource launched today to support students in years reception to 10 to who may be isolating at home after testing positive to COVID-19, or who are isolating as they have been identified as close contacts.
The online resource is called ‘Our Learning SA’, and provides online lessons that have been prepared by the Education Department.
The Our Learning SA website is primed with a daily package of lessons with the first day of lessons to be ready to go for the return of school on Wednesday 2 February. Delivered via video or Microsoft PowerPoint they are accessible on most web-enabled devices.
Gardner said this is not to replace the teaching that is being done face-to-face, but is to support those isolating and families that have indicated a choice not to send their child to school. A collection of educational resources and at home activities are also available for preschool children.
“It’s not practical for teachers to prepare two methods of delivery for students in class and those at home,” he said.
“There are hundreds of videos and PowerPoints for families to see and for students to use.”
Primary students can access lessons on literacy, numeracy, humanities and social sciences (HASS) and physical activity. Secondary students will be able to access English, maths, science and physical activity.
The resource is publicly available for anyone to access. Each of the lessons has been designed by a year-level specialist from the Department for Education and aligns with the Australian Curriculum.
Gardner said the resource has been prepared over the last few weeks and is ready to go, but will be released week by week.
Gardner said the lessons have been prepared up until week four, with adjustments to be made and more resources to be provided after week four.
You can access the Our Learning SA site here.
PARENT HOTLINE
Gardner also spoke on The Department for Education’s reactivation of its Parent Remote Learning ICT Hotline created to provide technical support to public school families with children learning from home.
He said this resource was popular in the past throughout the pandemic and because of this, they have decided to launch it again this year.
The hotline, which can be reached on 1800 271 211, will be staffed by ICT experts from 8:30am to 4:30pm and will be available to try to solve any issues that can’t be fixed in the first instance by individual schools.
DELAY IN RATS
Gardner also spoke on the delay of RATs to a number of schools in South Australia. He said that while they had hoped for all schools to have received their RATs last week, they have experienced delays and schools should expect to receive these today or tomorrow.
Schools are receiving three weeks supply of RATs. If they need more, given teachers are required to use these for 7 days as close contacts, they can be provided with additional RATs.
EXTREME WEATHER
Marshall commented on the extreme weather that SA is experiencing with the storm still not over yet.
BOM says SA should expect extreme rain events in the next 24-48 hours especially in the north agricultural areas who should expect 50mm-100mm a day over the incoming days.
Marshall said this puts extreme pressure on effected areas. He said the Stuart Highway is still cut off after being severely damaged through the storms of the past week and stated that people must avoid travelling north of the state.
“I’m disappointed that there are still people who think they know better and try to get through in middle of the night,” Marshall said.
“This is causing havoc for the SES having to save people who should’ve never gone there in first place.”
You may not always receive a call, SMS or email from SA Health.
You must follow the relevant health advice even if you have not been contacted.
If you have any COVID-19 symptoms, no matter how mild, please seek testing as soon as possible.
For more information on health advice and requirements for households, visit www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/COVIDcontacttracing.
Find your nearest testing site at www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/COVIDtesting
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