“I do not feel very comfortable about the situation in schools,” he said. “There is a lot of denial about the sixth wave that has begun.” With capacity limits, mask commands and other restrictions remaining in some areas but disappearing in others, Canadian areas remain in various stages of easing pandemic mitigation measures. However, as health experts again warn of rising rates of COVID-19 infection and hospitalization in parts of the country, parents and school staff are preparing for what a sixth wave could bring to the classrooms. According to the Quebec Department of Education, student absences associated with COVID-19 increased from a daily snapshot of about 14,000 on March 22 to almost 24,500 on March 29. increased again to 27,119 absences due to COVIDAccording to figures released on Tuesday – the same day the province announced it would extend its mandate to indoor public spaces at least until the end of the month, citing an increase in new cases and hospitalization. Ontario, which monitors the percentage of staff and students absent from the current COVID-19 monitoring in schools, has also seen high absenteeism rates in multiple councils, particularly in the north. Bentley, a parent representative on his children’s school board and a member of the Quebec English Parents’ Association, is less concerned about his children with COVID-19, as Hunter, 10, and Annabelle, 7, are both vaccinated. He is more concerned that a significant increase in new COVID-related absences could lead to further disruptions in their schooling, new rounds of disruption or even a sudden return to distance education. “To keep the kids in school – and make sure they stay in school – wouldn’t it be fundamental to keep them safe? And nowadays, to keep them covered?” said Bentley. “Learning from home is not a substitute for interpersonal learning.” Montreal-based parent Doug Bentley, who appears with his wife Melanie Moore and their children Hunter and Annabelle, is worried about more school disruptions and the possibility of learning online again amid a sixth wave of COVID-19. (Submitted by Doug Bentley)
Although Quebec did not reinstate the mask requirement for schools this week, Bentley believes the masks would help – and he is not alone.

About absences in health, education

Earlier on Tuesday, the island of Prince Edward extended his mandate for the masks (which includes the schools) for several more weeks, while easing the concentration and capacity limits. This came a day after a team of 19 pediatricians in New Brunswick published an open letter to the province asking for the restoration of the mask mandate, which had been lifted in mid-March in schools and for pre-school workers. Their appeal was also supported by the president of the New Brunswick Medical Society. The letter was compiled late last week based on what pediatricians saw and experienced in their homes, workplaces and communities in general: more children out of school, more children in hospital with COVID-19 symptoms and deficiencies staff in both healthcare and education. due to illness or need for isolation, according to Saint John’s neonatologist Dr. Alana Newman, one of the co-authors of the letter. The neonatologist of Saint John Dr. Alana Newman wrote a letter to other New Brunswick pediatricians asking for the return of mask orders to schools and daycare workers amid rising COVID-19 cases in recent weeks. (Submitted by Alana Newman)
The most immediate concern, he said, is to have enough healthy, non-isolated medical staff “to treat those who are sick of any age and need treatment, especially in the hospital” and enough teachers and teaching staff to continue classes.
“The fear that many of us have reaches a point where we will not be able to provide the care we need to all the people who need it,” said Newman, who is also a parent of young children. “And then we look, weeks later, at the possible closure of individual schools and classrooms because there are not … enough people available to be able to work?” Newman believes that restoring a mask order to the classroom and to childcare workers would help slow the growing incidence in New Brunswick, even if other parts of the community continue without it. He noted that children under the age of five have not yet been approved for vaccination and that the population of children aged five to 11 in New Brunswick has a “significantly lower rate of vaccination than the population of older children and adults”. Combined with younger children who are much less likely to maintain physical distance, “I think slowing the spread in this environment alone can have an impact on the spread in the community,” he said. In the midst of the pandemic, those in the health care system, the education system and the government have been working together “all the time and re-evaluating things as they go,” Newman said. “I just hope that public health and the ruling parties will be willing to participate again and again. [say]: ‘Let’s see what happened last month … Maybe we should re-evaluate what we do.’ “And there is no shame in that.”

The Toronto Board is changing its alert strategy

Canada’s largest school committee announced Monday that it will do so now send notifications of a positive COVID-19 case (from any self-reported cases) to all students at the affected schoola shift from the previous policy to sending only notes to families in the affected classes. The impetus for the change was the desire of the Toronto District School Committee to simplify communication with families, especially for high school students who have different grades during the day, said spokesman Ryan Byrd, who noted that the decision arrives at the right time as “jokes, yes, we hear about an increase in cases”. The TDSB is doing the best it can with the mitigation measures that remain in schools, said spokesman Ryan Byrd. (Angelina King / CBC)
As school committees no longer centrally monitor COVID-19 cases per location on a daily basis, according to the Ontario Department of Education instruction, “we simply do not have this consistent data.” According to Bird, despite the fact that many pandemic measures in schools have been lifted this spring, the council is doing its best with the remaining measures to keep everyone safe.
“I think now with everyone really mixing up during the school day and after school, [sending school-wide notification letters] “It really gives people so much more detail,” he said. “It has really shifted more to the responsibility of families to make the best decision based on their unique circumstances.”