Thousands of Manitobans had the opportunity to remotely take part in a town hall Tuesday night to raise their back-to-school concerns with government officials.
Manitoba Education Minister and Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin fielded questions from 17 people, most of them parents, over the hour-long phone call.
Questions covered concerns over the lack of a mask mandate in schools, substitute teacher availability and movements across institutions, and how cohorting and contact tracing will work in the likely event that a student or staff member tests positive.
Among other doubts and fears, parents also pressed for more clarity on accommodations for immuno-compromised families, supports for students with exceptional needs, and resources for children with anxieties about heading back to class.
Earlier in the day, Manitoba registered two new COVID-19 deaths, and its active case load grew to 235.
The provincial government released its updated back-to-school guidelines for parents and divisions last week.
A number of divisions revealed their specific plans in the days that followed, with more expected to share information in the days to come.
But even as details emerge, parents on the call suggested they either aren’t happy or feel uncertain about the government approach to some issues.
Why no mask mandate?
At least two callers asked why masks aren’t being mandated for everyone in schools, or at least for staff and students in middle and senior years.
Students from grades 5 to 12 are ‘strongly encouraged’ to wear masks in the Winnipeg School Division. (Oksana Kuzmina/Adobe Stock)
“I think if this is going to be our new normal, it’s something that students and staff would have to just get used to for the hopefully short-term but maybe for a bit longer than that,” said Marge from St. Andrews, suggesting students of all grades should wear masks.
The provincial guidelines currently strongly recommend, but do not mandate, mask use among all staff, as well as students in grades 5-12 while in school. Masks must be worn by students in that bracket who ride the bus.
The Public Health Association of Canada currently does not advise mask use among students 10 and younger, and Roussin explained why the province is following that outline.
‘I feel like I’m having to choose between my daughter’s health and my other two [childrens’] education– Caller named Nicole
He said the virus doesn’t seem to be transmitted at a high rate among younger children.
“The other thing is just the expectation of adherence to proper mask use, and so the amount of times that these kids would be touching their face and bringing the mask down is really counter-productive,” he said.
Roussin said Manitobans have generally followed public health recommendations since the pandemic arrived in March, which is another reason why he hasn’t yet mandated masks.
Back-to-school anxiety
Another caller described how her daughter was struggling academically and was in the middle of a psychological assessment when the pandemic hit. The mother said she is also one of two family members cleared to visit an older family member in care.
“This is just an added anxiety for a child like mine who needs in-person learning but also has added anxiety on top of what she’s already facing academically with a grandma in a nursing home on oxygen who’s dying, so she’s very afraid to bring it home,” she said.
“I don’t really know how a school would deal with a situation like mine.”
Goertzen pointed to the mental health and well-being guidelines for divisions. He suggested all divisions should have supports ready for students who might be experiencing anxiety, and families can expect to work on individualized plans for their children in the coming weeks.
“There is going to be an increased anxiety among young people, but we don’t know to what extent,” he said.
“There is a lot of learning that’s happening so there are resources in place.”
Immuno-compromised family
The province has said medically fragile students who receive a recommendation from a health professional to stay at home can do so. Other students, including those with common chronic conditions, are generally expected to attend school.
A caller named Nicole said asked about households that include a vulnerable family member. She has several children, including an immuno-compromised adult daughter with Down syndrome.
This chart illustrates where active cases of COVID-19 are in the province, with red indicating Winnipeg cases, yellow for Prairie Mountain, green for Southern Health and blue for Interlake-Eastern. The Northern Health region has only had three cases. (Jacques Marcoux/CBC)
“We’ve had all our kids home for the last five months,” she asked, hinting that schools should still provide the option of remote learning for homes like hers. “Flu season is coming. I feel like I’m having to choose between my daughter’s health and my other two [childrens’] education. Why can there not be a compromise?”
Roussin acknowledged there are unique circumstances like those outlined by Nicole that the province is still looking into how to address.
Cohorts and contact tracing
The province has advocated for schools to implement a cohort model — grouping the same students together each day and week — when space constraints make the advisable two-metre distancing guideline impractical.
Two callers raised questions about this — namely regarding why there aren’t any firm rules restricting substitute teachers from filling in at multiple different schools, and what would happen in the event a student in a cohort tests positive.
Our expectation is that teachers will be that two metres removed from the students.– Education Minister Kelvin Goertzen
“Does the cohort of students then have to self isolate the 14 days, or do they just watch for symptoms?” asked a caller named Tracy.
Roussin said school administrators will be notified, then the school community and all of Manitobans.
Health officials will carry out contact tracing protocols when a student or staff tests positive, including looking into close contacts who spent greater than 15 minutes within two metres of the positive case, said Roussin.
It’s possible an entire cohort, which can number up to 75 students, could have to isolate, but it could also end up being a small number of close contacts
Substitute teachers
A caller named Sean worried that if substitute teachers could be exposing themselves and multiple cohorts if they’re moving from school to school.
Goertzen said when the pandemic began, many other jurisdictions experienced outbreaks in personal care homes with ties to workers who moved between facilities. In contrast to that example, he said nurses do considerably different work than teachers or substitutes.
“Sometimes … any kind of [distancing] isn’t possible for a nurse working in a personal home,” he said. “Our expectation is that teachers will be that two metres removed from the students.”
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.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.
Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.
The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.
“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.
Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.
A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
