Canada’s federal public health agency on Friday released guidelines for slowing the spread of the coronavirus among students and staff when schools reopen in September.
The guidelines for school administrators recommend that students over the age of 10 wear masks, that students and teachers stay two metres apart wherever possible, and that students and teachers be grouped together to reduce the number of people they come into close contact with.
Schools should also postpone or cancel large group activities like assemblies, team sports and field trips and move classes outside if weather permits, the guidelines say. Students should also be encouraged to leave personal belongings, like cellphones, either at home or in their lockers so that they’re not shared among students, according to the document.
The guidelines also recommend schools improve their ventilation systems and open windows whenever possible to increase air flow.
Anyone showing symptoms of COVID-19 should be screened and prohibited from entering school buildings, the guidelines say, and schools should have a plan for what to do in the event of an outbreak.
The recommendations come after many provinces and territories have already released their back-to-school plans, with many parents and teachers raising concerns about whether those plans do enough to keep children and staff safe.
“Now that COVID-19 activity has been brought under manageable control … we must now establish a careful balance to keep the infection rate low while minimizing unintended health and social consequences,” chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam said at a news conference in Ottawa on Friday.
“Young people — for their mental and physical health — we need to get them back to education as safely as possible.”
Complement to provincial, territorial plans
The federal guidelines, which are not prescriptive, are meant to supplement those provided by provincial and territorial governments and local public health authorities.
Deputy chief public health officer, Dr. Howard Njoo, speaking alongside Tam, emphasized that all schools should consider the local situation when deciding which guidelines to put into practice.
“In one community, if there are not very many cases, it might be possible to be more flexible, and mask-wearing might not need to be mandatory,” Njoo said in French. “But in another community where there is more community spread, it might be more important to implement mandatory mask-wearing.”
WATCH | Tam discusses returning to school during the pandemic:
Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam spoke with reporters on Parliament Hill Friday about the upcoming school year. 2:27
Plans for how to safely send students back to school vary widely across the country.
In B.C., students will be sorted into learning groups to limit their interactions with others but won’t be required to wear masks.
Ontario’s plan will see elementary students and high schoolers in areas with low infection rates in class five days a week in standard class sizes. However, secondary students at boards that are higher risk will only attend class half the time. Masks will be required for students in grades four to 12.
Alberta will also require students of those ages to wear masks but only while in hallways, common areas and while working closely with others.
Saskatchewan will send students back to class without requiring students to wear masks or reducing class sizes.
Most provinces say schools must allow parents the option to keep their children home and allow them to learn remotely.
Several provinces have faced criticism from parents and educators, particularly those that have chosen not to mandate smaller class sizes as part of their back-to-school plans. In many parts of the country, maintaining a physical distance of at least two metres won’t be possible in classrooms with the same average number of students as before the pandemic.
The federal guidelines recognize that physical distancing is not always possible, especially among younger students. They includes ideas like spacing out desks and play stations, installing Plexiglas barriers between students, and assessing whether a school’s infrastructure can be enhanced to create more space.
Worrying rise
Tam said, while a lot remains unknown, early evidence indicates that young children generally experience mild symptoms if infected with the coronavirus. Only a small number of children have become seriously ill, she said.
She said it appears that children under age 10 are also less likely to transmit the virus to others than older children and adults.
Both said that they continue to monitor a worrying rise in cases among young adults between age 20 and 39.
“If we want schools to reopen safely and people going back to increased attendance at universities, we have to right now keep the transmission down,” said Tam. “Right now, it’s manageable. We can detect cases but this virus, as I’ve said, is in our backyards so we can’t let our guard down.”
VANCOUVER – Mayors and other leaders from several British Columbia communities say the provincial and federal governments need to take “immediate action” to tackle mental health and public safety issues that have reached crisis levels.
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim says it’s become “abundantly clear” that mental health and addiction issues and public safety have caused crises that are “gripping” Vancouver, and he and other politicians, First Nations leaders and law enforcement officials are pleading for federal and provincial help.
In a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier David Eby, mayors say there are “three critical fronts” that require action including “mandatory care” for people with severe mental health and addiction issues.
The letter says senior governments also need to bring in “meaningful bail reform” for repeat offenders, and the federal government must improve policing at Metro Vancouver ports to stop illicit drugs from coming in and stolen vehicles from being exported.
Sim says the “current system” has failed British Columbians, and the number of people dealing with severe mental health and addiction issues due to lack of proper care has “reached a critical point.”
Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer says repeat violent offenders are too often released on bail due to a “revolving door of justice,” and a new approach is needed to deal with mentally ill people who “pose a serious and immediate danger to themselves and others.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024
The Canadian government says it will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to fight the mpox outbreak in Congo and other African countries.
It says the donated doses of Imvamune will come from Canada’s existing supply and will not affect the country’s preparedness for mpox cases in this country.
Minister of Health Mark Holland says the donation “will help to protect those in the most affected regions of Africa and will help prevent further spread of the virus.”
Dr. Madhukar Pai, Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health, says although the donation is welcome, it is a very small portion of the estimated 10 million vaccine doses needed to control the outbreak.
Vaccine donations from wealthier countries have only recently started arriving in Africa, almost a month after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
A few days after the declaration in August, Global Affairs Canada announced a contribution of $1 million for mpox surveillance, diagnostic tools, research and community awareness in Africa.
On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said mpox is still on the rise and that testing rates are “insufficient” across the continent.
Jason Kindrachuk, Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba, said donating vaccines, in addition to supporting surveillance and diagnostic tests, is “massively important.”
But Kindrachuk, who has worked on the ground in Congo during the epidemic, also said that the international response to the mpox outbreak is “better late than never (but) better never late.”
“It would have been fantastic for us globally to not be in this position by having provided doses a much, much longer time prior than when we are,” he said, noting that the outbreak of clade I mpox in Congo started in early 2023.
Clade II mpox, endemic in regions of West Africa, came to the world’s attention even earlier — in 2022 — as that strain of virus spread to other countries, including Canada.
Two doses are recommended for mpox vaccination, so the donation may only benefit 100,000 people, Pai said.
Pai questioned whether Canada is contributing enough, as the federal government hasn’t said what percentage of its mpox vaccine stockpile it is donating.
“Small donations are simply not going to help end this crisis. We need to show greater solidarity and support,” he said in an email.
“That is the biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic — our collective safety is tied with that of other nations.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
