Chatham-Kent Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Colby supports a return to school on Monday and is reassuring parents and students that local schools are safe.
Colby said schools are not a significant source of transmission as CK Public Health has only reported three school outbreaks in total since the start of the pandemic. The outbreak at Lambton-Kent Composite School in Dresden continues but Colby said the school will be open on Monday. There were two staff members who tested positive but one has since recovered.
Education Director of the St. Clair Catholic District School Board Deb Crawford said schools will now have new and enhanced health and safety protocols in place mandated by the province such as confirmation of self screening by staff and secondary students, which previously only applied to staff.
Crawford said using the provincial screening tool is very important to allow students to return to in-person learning safely.
"I'd like to remind everyone that all people, all students must use the self-screening tool before they go to school in the morning or before they go to work and if they're not feeling well, they should not be coming to school," said Crawford.
Other new school health and safety protocols include expanded mandatory mask wearing to grade 1-3 students. All Grades 1-12 students must also wear masks on buses and outdoors if a two metre distance can't be maintained.
The Lambton-Kent District School Board said the new health and safety measures are in place to support a safe operation of schools. The Government of Ontario will also be providing an additional 3.5 million high-quality standard masks for students to ensure a back up supply is available if needed.
Dr. Colby said discussions continue to implement enhanced and rapid testing in schools to catch cases early.
"The attention to screening I think is really the most important enhancement for safety here and I've been very happy with the way the school boards have conducted their approach to the pandemic all the way along," the doctor said. "We have certainly not seen schools and children in school being a source of infection to others in the community. That was a big worry at the beginning of the pandemic and I support the back to school move."
Education Director of the Lambton-Kent District School Board John Howitt said there's an April deadline to switch back to virtual learning the board will be looking at but schools will consider exemptions.
The local school boards have also been mandated by the province to discourage students and parents from congregating before and after school and that means no extra-curricular activities unless they're done virtually. Both school boards also said filters are being upgraded and changed more frequently to keep the air cleaner in schools.
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