School closures could become part of 'new normal' claims Tamworth doctor Ian Kammerman

That's the view of prominent doctor Ian Kamerman, from Northwest Health in Tamworth in NSW's north east.

Already since re-opening many local schools, and schools across NSW and Victoria, have had COVID-19 cases and had to close soon after they'd re-opened.

Dr Kamerman said we should think of the virus the same way we do tuberculosis, or measles.

"If you think about it, if there's a case of measles in a school the school's going to close," he said.

The only available silver bullet, outside vaccination, is constant rapid antigen testing of vaccinated people.

"For schools to not to have to open and shut, you would have to test everyone in the school every three days and exclude those who have a positive test," he said.

"Which is the approach some businesses do. The cost of laying staff off and closing is more than the cost of doing testing.

"It's not the unvaccinated ones you want to pick up. You want to stop them being exposed to it. So it's everyone else that needs to get a test."

A pilot program for rapid antigen home testing kits in public schools will begin in Albury, near the Victorian border, this week.

The kits will be handed out by schools for use at home by staff and students who have to do a test twice a week as part of community surveillance.

There will come a day when constant opening and closing of schools and other institutions comes to an end, when the country achieves "true herd immunity", when we've all been exposed to the virus Dr Kamerman said. He admitted that might be years away.

Joanne Stead is mum to three children. She has recently felt the impacts of school shutdowns for the third time in the past two months, and is preparing to deal with the issue a lot more in the foreseeable future.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Ms Stead's children Mia, 16, Anna, 13 and Yulama, 9 go to different schools, all of which have had COVID scares.

She said while it can be difficult for parents, she feels most for the kids who have to deal with constant changes and are being impacted by isolation orders.

"It's always disappointing when you have plans, all the kids were really upset on Friday evening because they had lots of Halloween plans this weekend," she said.

She said it has been difficult to handle the ever-changing situation, but said in a way she is luckier than most given her job is flexible.

"I'm in a lucky position because I work from home anyway and I haven't been able to travel which I normally do with my job," she said.

"Most of my work is on my computer and I can Zoom and do teams meetings and that sort of thing.

"But I think it's a lot harder for people that normally have an office job, or a face-to-customer job."

She acknowledged that the schools themselves were probably struggling the most throughout the saga, but said she was thankful for the pace and which they were letting parents and carers know what was going on, and whether their kids were contacts or not.

On Saturday, public health physician Dr David Durrheim warned of an alarming trend of infections in educational settings.

"This is a really important reminder to all parents, make sure, even if your child has the mildest of symptoms don't take them to school," he said.