Questions remain ahead of return to in-person classes
Concerns come on heels of additional measures announced Wednesday
With only days left until Ontario students return to classrooms, educators are questioning aspects of the provincial government's plan.
On Wednesday, Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce laid out additional measures intended to help keep schools and classrooms open amid the highly transmissible Omicron variant of COVID-19.
Steps include giving each student two rapid antigen tests to help with screening if they develop symptoms, as well as launching vaccine clinics inside schools to help inoculate more kids aged 5 to 11.
Details of the plan are located in the document at the bottom of this story.
"I think the province is on the right track," Dr. Vera Etches said in an Ottawa Public Health media briefing hosted after Lecce's Wednesday remarks
She pointed to high quality masks, proper ventilation, vaccinations and the ability to screen students before they enter classrooms as reasons for supporting the return to in-person learning.
WATCH | Lecce says province made 'good use of time'
Thomas D'Amico, director of education for the Ottawa Catholic School Board, said English-language Catholic schools have received 201,000 N95 masks and 51 HEPA filters from the Ontario government.
"That's not something we would have been able to secure on our own, so we're appreciative," D'Amico said, referring to the N95 masks.
"Those are ready to go."
Shift in reporting
The province also revealed Wednesday it's changing how it keeps parents in the loop and will no longer report individual positive COVID-19 tests.
If a school's combined student and staff absences hit a level of around 30 per cent, that would be reported to the local public health unit and trigger a letter to parents.
According to the Ministry of Education, public reporting of absentee rates and closures will begin on Jan. 24 on the province's website.
Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario's chief medical officer of health, said public health officials will be in constant communication with school boards about COVID-19 related risks, not just when absences increase.
Shortly after the province's announcement, the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario said it was "cautious" about the new measures.
In a news release, the federation called for a return to reporting of COVID-19 cases and outbreaks to "ensure school communities are made aware of these cases/outbreaks, especially individuals who are close contacts."
D'Amico said the Ottawa Catholic School Board expects to receive more details about the absenteeism reporting system on Friday, adding parents welcome any data "that is more transparent."
Under the province's updated guidelines, public health units will no longer dismiss cohorts, instead leaving that responsibility up to schools and school boards based on their operational requirements.
Ontario school boards can also rotate between in-person and remote learning, or a combination of the two, to minimize school closures driven by virus-related staff absences.
"What will happen when 30 per cent is a trigger now of attendance? We're not sure," D'Amico said. "We have the next two days to work that out with public health, and next week. Potentially it could trigger sending an entire cohort home, which is an old practice.
"We just don't know yet what it's going to mean."
Monitor symptoms, Etches stresses
Stephanie Kirkey, president of the local teachers' bargaining unit for the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, said the new guidelines offload more responsibility onto school boards.
As the Ministry of Education has pointed out, the absentee counts will also incorporate students who miss classes for reasons other than COVID-19.
"I imagine that when students go home at the end of the day and say to their parents, 'half my class was away today,' what kind of thoughts go through a parents mind? Like, 'Well, maybe you should stay home,'" Kirkey said.
She said publicly available data about classroom infections would encourage vigilance around self-monitoring for symptoms — a precaution Etches repeatedly stressed on Wednesday.
"The management of this situation doesn't change whether or not someone has confirmed tested positive," Etches said. "If somebody in a classroom tests positive, the advice to everyone else in that classroom is to monitor symptoms for 10 days."
If somebody in a classroom is sick and goes home, without a known diagnosis, students should still self monitor for symptoms before they go to school, Etches added.
WATCH | All eligible residents should get a third vaccine dose — even if they've already had COVID-19, public health says
New data on the way
Moore said the province will regularly release data, including hospital admissions for patients aged 5 to 11 and 12 to 17. It will also release the proportion of those patients who are vaccinated and unvaccinated.
"We're preparing those so parents can see if there's severe or adverse outcomes and the proportion of those patients that had to be hospitalized," he said. "But I will tell you that the risk of hospitalization is very, very low in Ontario for children."
Kirkey said the federation is also concerned about how long the supply of N95 masks will last and the availability of rapid tests for high school students.
While the province is providing 3.9 million rapid tests starting next week, tests will be distributed first to staff, then to children in daycares and students in public elementary schools, followed by high school students.
Moore said additional tests will be provided when supply allows.
Read details of the Ontario government's back-to-school plan below.
(PDF KB)
(Text KB)CBC is not responsible for 3rd party content
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Adam Carter, Shanifa Nasser, Joanne Chianello, Matthew Kupfer and The Canadian Press