No remote learning planned for schools after holiday break

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This article was published 16/12/2021 (1590 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba is not planning a remote learning period once students and school staff return from their holiday in the new year, but the top doctor stopped short of making any firm promises to parents Wednesday.

“We always want (K-12) schools to be the first thing to open, the last thing to close. We know how important that is for various aspects of health,” said Dr. Brent Roussin, chief provincial public health officer, at a news conference.

“So right now, we don’t have a specific plan, but again we’ll have to see what our epidemiology looks like.”

This time last year, the province announced Grade 7 to 12 students would temporarily participate in virtual classrooms upon the resumption of academics in early 2021 in an effort to ensure COVID-19 cases did not spike following Christmas and New Year’s celebrations.

The parents of younger students were given the option to participate in the remote buffer period.

As intensive care units fill up and researchers scramble to learn more about the new omicron variant, mother Krystal Payne is considering pulling her daughter from in-person classes at École Sacré Coeur before the break officially begins on Dec. 23.

“Because we don’t have a lot of provincial understanding of how (the new variant) is going to affect kids, my instinct is to skew more careful,” said Payne, a member of Safe September MB, a grassroots group that advocates for stricter public health measures and additional funding for pandemic-related costs to keep schools open.

Payne’s daughter spent all of 2020-21 in remote learning in order to protect an immunocompromised relative who lives with the family. Last year, the family juggled the challenges of keeping the extroverted student engaged in virtual courses. This year, school exposures and sick days have proven difficult to work around.

A recent outbreak in the nursery to Grade 8 building — even though the school has been vigilant — has raised anxiety levels, said Payne, adding she is looking forward to her upcoming booster shot and a second-dose appointment for her fourth grader.

Despite rising concerns about the new omicron variant, Manitoba is in a much better position to deal with the virus than it was in December 2020, said Cynthia Carr, an epidemiologist and health policy expert in Winnipeg.

“We’re in a better place in terms of our knowledge, in terms of our vaccination and certainly, if we look at the long-term data compared to what we were looking at last year, in terms of our hospitalizations, cases, and ICU admissions,” said Carr, founder of EPI Research Inc.

On Dec. 15, 2020 — the day before the first Manitoban received a COVID-19 vaccine — the province recorded nine deaths, 272 cases, and a five-day test positivity rate of more than 14 per cent provincially. Those same daily counts were two, 206 and six per cent on Wednesday.

At the same time, Carr said it would be “unwise” to say she is not concerned about rising caseloads in Ontario and figures trending upwards in Manitoba.

Current projections suggest an extension of the K-12 holiday break is not out of the question, she said, adding the risk of transmission and outcomes must be weighed with the effect of remote learning on student mental health, access to devices and overall learning.

“(My kids) are so happy being back at school and seeing their friends, but they know that mom’s worried,” said Chantal Cloutier. “I’m a planner, so if we’re going to end up going into remote learning, I’d rather already have my head in that sphere.”

The Winnipeg mother of two high school students said she wants to see the province penalize unvaccinated rule-breakers, and consider proactive reintroduction of restrictions on non-essential services — if that’s what is required to ensure students do not have to miss out on in-person classes.

As far as one local immunologist-virologist is concerned, the key to keeping schools open is distributing enough rapid tests to families so they can test children throughout the break.

“If we want our kids to go back to school and not miss out too much, then that would be the best way to go,” said Julie Lajoie, noting there needs to be enough supply so families can undertake frequent rapid antigen tests because the devices are not as accurate as PCR tests, especially when used on asymptomatic people.

Parents should consider upgrading their children’s masks to KN95s and schools need to focus on ensuring quality ventilation, Lajoie added.

Roussin indicated Wednesday an increased use of rapid testing is among options being considered.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie