Australia: Melbourne schools to reopen amid COVID-19 lockdown, threatening teacher, student safety
In a reckless move that needlessly threatens the safety of teachers, school workers and students, the Victorian state Labor government announced Wednesday that Melbourne high schools will reopen for Year 11 and 12 students from next week.
This follows a week-long closure of most schools that was imposed as part of an initially planned seven-day lockdown triggered by community transmission of the dangerous COVID-19 Kappa variant. Today authorities reported they had detected the even more contagious Delta variant. The lockdown has been extended for another seven days, but with a series of relaxed restrictions, including the reopening of schools for senior students in Melbourne and the resumption of all schools face-to-face teaching in regional Victoria.
Authorities warned the situation in Victoria was “incredibly serious” as a burgeoning aged care outbreak fed fears lockdown would be extended to a second week.
A return to the so-called ring of steel separating Melbourne and regional Victoria is not off the table if the state s lockdown drags out beyond seven days.
A Life Well Lived
Jeanne is survived by her loving spouse of 46 years, Niki Muller, her two daughters, Hannerle Moore and Deborah Rybak, and granddaughter, Carlie Luong.
She first arrived in Manatee County in 1956 and moved to the Village of Longboat Key. Jeanne will always be remembered for a life of caring and service, her wonderful sense of humor and her musical gifts.
Jeanne was born in Melbourne, Australia, to an Irish mother and a Scottish father who met in India while both were working on the staff of Lord Louis Mountbatten. They married and then chose to honeymoon in the Himalayas. Her mother returned to Australia for the birth of her daughter and so she could be baptized in the Presbyterian Church. When Jeanne was 4 months old, she returned to New Delhi, India, with her mother and was cared for by an Indian nanny. Her mother worked throughout her career for Ml6 as a secret agent in India, China and Singapore, and her father was a structural engineer who designed and bui