Good morning. It’s James Keller in Calgary.
The emergence of more contagious COVID-19 variants has restarted the debate about how to keep schools safe.
In B.C., the government has been under pressure to increase mask use in schools due to the variants. In Alberta, the teachers’ union is wondering why their members aren’t a higher priority to get the vaccines.
Both provinces have reported cases of the variants in the schools. Health officials in B.C. say there have been variant cases confirmed in seven schools but that there is no evidence of transmission within the schools The same cannot be said for Alberta, where there have been cases of students believed to have contracted the variants at school. Still, both provinces are stressing that over all, the numbers of variant cases are small.
The COVID-19 variants, first identified in places like Britain and South Africa, are considered more contagious than the strain of the virus that is currently most widespread. There are fears that they could become the dominant versions of the virus and potentially fuel a third wave.
The BC Teachers’ Federation is urging public-health officials to expand guidelines on masks to include elementary students. Federation head Teri Mooring said school districts should be allowed to impose measures based on their needs, considering all the cases were found in schools in the Fraser Health region.
Currently, students in middle and high schools are required to wear masks except when they are seated at their desks in classes.
Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s Provincial Health Officer, says school boards and individual schools can adapt safety plans to their own situations. She said those safety plans appear to be working, as infections within schools remain low.
Health and education officials urged calm earlier this week, stressing that they are taking the safety of students and staff seriously, and that the current policies are based on the evidence. They are taking other measures including increasing testing among staff and students.
Those reassurances appeared to do little to allay teachers’ concerns. At a school in Surrey, B.C., teachers wore red shirts and marched into school together as a small protest.
Alberta has among the highest numbers of confirmed variants in the country, and there has been transmission reported in schools.
The Alberta Teachers’ Association has pointed to recommendations from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization to argue that teachers should be given priority. Currently, teachers have no special place in the vaccine queue and will be eligible to be vaccinated when their respective age groups come up in the rollout plan.
Premier Jason Kenney defended that decision earlier this week, saying that the province needed to make difficult choices to manage a limited supply of vaccines and is focusing on the people with the highest risk of poor outcomes first.
His Health Minister, Tyler Shandro, said the province’s policies are similar to other jurisdictions in the country.
The province’s Chief Medical Officer has also pointed out that over all, schools have not been a source of COVID-19 transmission. Infections among school-aged children have not increased significantly since classes resumed in January, and most instances of confirmed school transmission involved only a single new infection.
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