18 Dec 2021
Dear Wallsend Public School community,
I write to provide you with an update on our earlier communication.
We apologise for the delay in providing this information to you while we work through this with NSW Health.
As advised on Thursday 16 December, 2021, a member of our school community has tested positive to COVID-19. If you or your child were at school between 13/12/2021 to 14/12/2021 you may be impacted on these exposure dates.
NSW Health has advised that students in KL, KM, 1/2D, 1/2C, 2/3S, students who attended on either or both of these days and our Wrigglers Transition Program on Tuesday 14th and staff who worked with this group of students on these dates have been identified as an education close contact of the confirmed case. Under the current settings, NSW Health requires that close contacts immediately get a nose and throat (PCR) test and self-isolate for 7 days from the last date of exposure. Guidance has been provided by NSW Health about the self-isolation requirements.
It is recommended that education close contacts get a nose and throat (PCR) test again 12 days after your last exposure. Close contacts should avoid high risk settings (health care, aged care, correctional facilities) where possible, and take extra precautions around vulnerable people including family members, for another week.
There is no requirement for any other staff or students to continue to isolate.
NSW Health reminds anyone who has been unwell or if you develop any symptoms such as a fever, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, runny nose, loss of smell/taste, muscle/joint pains, diarrhoea, nausea/vomiting or extreme tiredness to be tested at one of the COVID-19 testing clinics.
The Department is working closely with NSW Health and we will be in contact with you should any of this advice change.
Further information on COVID-19 is available on the NSW Government website.
If you need practical support or have non-urgent health-related questions during isolation, call NSW Health on 1800 943 553.
Thank you for your support.
Mr Ricki Metcalfe
Principal