TORONTO – Ontario was the laggard but today it finally announced through the mouth of the Chief Medical Officer of Health of the province Kieran Moore, the latest news about the return to school of students at the end of the Christmas holidays. Return that with great general surprise sledges of only two days, from Monday January 3 to Wednesday January 5.
In recent days British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Manitoba, P.E.I have informed parents and teachers that the reopening of their schools has been postponed to January 10 while in Newfoundland and Labrador from January 4 children will follow online lessons waiting for it to be decided what will be the right time for the return to school.
today, during the conference that followed a cabinet meeting, Moore justified the delay in communicating the decision by saying that it was necessary to “allow time to implement additional security measures”. It should be noted that neither the prime minister of the province Doug Ford nor the Minister of Education Stephen Lecce took part in the press conference.
The incoming measures in essence should be able to contain the spread of Omicron and at the same time allow children to attend school.
The government has said it will provide N95 masks for staff in schools and licensed childcare facilities as an optional alternative to medical or surgical masks. An additional supply of high-quality, free three-layer cloth masks will also be sent in January, the use of which is “strongly encouraged for students and children”.
Moore said an additional 3,000 units of HEPA filters will also be distributed to school boards, in addition to the 70,000 currently available to schools.
In addition, symptomatic primary and secondary school students and school staff will fall into the categories entitled to PCR tests.
When students return to school in January, only low-contact indoor sports and safe extracurricular activities will be allowed.
Ontario’s chief medical officer also called on students, parents and staff to rigorously screen and monitor their symptoms ahead of returning to classrooms on January 5.
Already two days ago more than 500 doctors in the province signed a letter sent to the government in which they asked to keep schools open: today Dr. Moore said that the Children’s Health Coalition – which represents Ontario’s children’s hospitals, mental health agencies and rehabilitation centers – stressed the importance of face-to-face education that is fundamental to mental health, the development and well-being of children and young people.
