Despite COVID concerns, expert says schools across Canada should go ahead with precautions

CALGARY – Many people have concerns about what the coming school year will look like when it comes to managing COVID-19, but an expert says schools are important and should proceed — albeit with precautions in place.

Alberta-based infectious diseases expert Dr. Andrew Morris outlines his thoughts on the matter in an online newsletter.

He admits the return to school amid the continuation of COVID-19 infections is “understandably a time of extreme anxiety for everyone,” but that “school is the essential work of children, thus it should be heavily prioritized.”

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Concerns have been mounting with the recent rise in Alberta case counts, driven by the Delta variant. Alberta reported 407 new cases and three deaths Tuesday.

Hospitalizations saw a rise over the last day, with 176 people now in hospital, an increase of 15 from Monday. There are now 44 people in the ICU.

Pointing to recent recommendations made by the Ontario COVID-19 Scientific Advisory Table, Morris has outlined a number of takeaways. He says if schools can go ahead, they should.

“Vaccination has changed the overall population risk of COVID, so using school closures primarily as a tool to influence community transmission — without direct concern for kids’ safety — is probably unwise,” his newsletter reads.

He adds some measures brought in last year at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic should “be part of the new normal,” noting staying home when sick, improving and maintaining indoor air quality, cleaning, and personal hygiene are all things that should continue.

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However, he doesn’t believe all districts across Canada will be able to achieve air quality standards by the time the school bell rings.

“All of these measures are good for non-COVID viruses as well, such as influenza and RSV,” Morris adds.

When it comes to extra-curriculars, such as sports and music, he believes decisions should be made by parents and schools.

However, he does have his own recommendations.

“They are all variably safe when case rates are low,” Morris writes.

“But I am anticipating that case rates will not be substantially low in the ensuing 2 months, meaning that they are best done outdoors as much as possible, masked as much as possible, and spread out as much as possible. Again, being a kid at school is the essential work of kids, and so it is unwise to just turn a blind eye to all of this.”

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Last week, Education Minister Adriana LaGrange announced that there would not be mandatory masks in Alberta’s schools this year unless individual school boards were to put rules in place themselves.

There will, however, be a vaccine campaign in schools for kids from 12 to 17 years old can get vaccinated if they haven’t already been.

For more on COVID-19 and back to school, head to our special coverage page.