Kids in Orange will go back to school on Tuesday as long as the city is not put back into stay-at-home orders in-between then and now.

Chief executive of Western NSW Local Health District, Scott McLachlan, said the coming weeks will see an increased risk for the virus to spread.

"We're wanting to focus this week and the long weekend on the testing for the kids returning to school, so could I ask all mums and dads, aunties and uncles of kids returning, to look for testing opportunities over the long weekend," he said.

"If you don't have symptoms you don't need to isolate unless you've been in a household with someone with symptoms."

This is a result of the surveillance testing which available at all testing sites which means that so long as you and your household are symptom free, aren't identified as close contacts and haven't been to any venues of concern, you don't need to isolate while you're waiting for results.

Almost 40 per cent of the COVID-19 cases in the Western LHD have been in people aged under 20 and half those in kids aged under nine.

Mr McLachlan added that while COVID tends not to make children particularly sick, they don't want to see them at risk at all.

"Importantly they are still able to pass it on, particularly within their own household, but also now to their classmates and school staff as they return to school," he said.

"Our testing facilities will be available over the long weekend and we are encouraging families to take advantage of that.

"Get tested, and give yourself a sense of assurance that your house is COVID free as your kids head back to school."

Mr McLachlan also encouraged those in the 12-15 age bracket to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

"Community transmission - where people are picking up COVID-19 in more public areas like shops and so on - is a risk, but the stay-at-home orders have certainly helped control that to some degree," the health boss said.

"But once we start circulating again as those orders are lifted, we need to be prepared to see those transmissions escalate again.

"Regardless of where you live and what the numbers of transmission look like right now, as we approach milestones like returning to school, and the lifting of stay-at-home orders we want to encourage people to make COVID-19 part of their routine."

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