Schools ready to open Monday despite rise in COVID-19 cases
B.C.’s schools are set to fully open Monday, despite a surge in COVID-19 cases as a result of the Omicron variant — although some parents plan to keep their children home.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said at a Friday news conference that the province has been working with school districts as they brought in enhanced COVID-19 protocols over the past week, when schools were only open to children with special needs or those whose parents are front-line workers.
Districts have been gathering supplies of three-layer masks, planning for staggered breaks to reduce crowding and doing away with face-to-face seating arrangements.
Henry said some concern among parents — especially those with vulnerable family members — is understandable, but schools are safe places to be, because of the structure in place.
“We know that there is a lot of anxiety and it is always a challenge when we have more illness in our communities, how that’s going to affect school.”
Kassandra Stafford, whose two children attend school in the Sooke School District, said neither will be attending until this wave of COVID is over, even though she realizes the benefits of in-person learning.
“Both my kids are autistic, so the social aspect of being in school is really important,” said Stafford.
But her son, who is in Grade 5, was hospitalized with influenza when he was in Grade 1 and the effect on his immune system means he hasn’t been able to get fully vaccinated yet, said Stafford, who is also hesitant to send her daughter back to kindergarten.
Winona Waldron, president of the Greater Victoria Teachers’ Association, said she also has reservations about the return to classes, and believes many people will wait to send their children back to school.
Waldron said little has changed when it comes to preventing spread of the virus in schools — there is no more contact tracing in schools and she hasn’t heard any recent talk about ventilation measures.
The province has said it will not provide N95 masks to teachers ahead of Monday’s school reopening, as had been requested by the B.C. Teachers’ Federation.
Henry said Friday that wellfitting three-layer masks are sufficient in schools alongside other layers of protection, citing reduced mingling among children. Henry also said N95 masks only offer “moderately increased filtration,” adding outbreaks are generally not occurring in schools.
But pointing to Ontario, where teachers are being assured N95 masks, BCTF president Teri Mooring said Friday that better masking can prevent illness among teachers and reduce the potential for closures due to staff shortages.
Mooring also wants a speedier booster-shot program for teachers, 96% of whom are vaccinated with two shots.
“We are hearing teachers saying they can’t book their appointments earlier than they wanted to,” she said, adding if enough teachers fall ill, schools will end up with “functional closures.”
Education Minister Jennifer Whiteside said Friday that contact tracing will not occur in schools. Rather, when a school notifies public health of a concern about low attendance, a notification will go out to the school community. If a school closes, home-based learning will begin.
Since the government has limited capacity to test for COVID-19, Health Minister Adrian Dix said 200,000 rapid tests will be issued for school staff across the province. More tests that can only be employed by health officers will be used in school outbreaks, said Henry.
The government is telling low-risk and vaccinated people with mild symptoms to not seek testing, which is being rationed for health-care workers and vulnerable individuals.
Dix has said the province has capacity to test 20,000 people per day, but it only averaged about 14,500 per day over the past week. The rest of those tests are conducted by private enterprises.
Cendra Beaton, who also lives in the Sooke district, is sending her children to school but will be keeping a close eye on things. “There’s always concern because there’s so much unpredictability,” she said.
News about pediatric COVID cases in Ontario heightens that concern, said Beaton, who has a daughter in Grade 8 and a son in Grade 5. “B.C. tends to trend just behind them.”
Beaton said she is eager to see exactly what safety measures are in place when school starts.
Henry said vaccination among school staff is high, and she would like to see all children who are eligible get vaccinated.
“School is essential,” she said. “We know it is the best place for children to be.” Still, there will undoubtedly be some “rocky times” at schools in the next few weeks, Henry said.
Whiteside said Omicron presents “a new and very different phase” to the pandemic.
“While our goal is to have students learning in classrooms, we recognize that there will be likely temporary shifts in how and where some students learn,” she said.
“This means that learning at home may be in place for some students over the coming weeks or months.”