Case management in schools has been disrupted by Omicron, leading parents to make tough decisions for their children.
This week, elementary and high school students in Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, and Nunavut will return to school.
The Omicron wave has had a significant impact on COVID-19 case management across the country, with several provinces abandoning traditional case counts as a metric for coronavirus spread in schools, leading to difficult decisions for parents concerned about their children’s safety as well as the impact of virtual learning on their education and mental health.
Canadian parents on whether or not to bring their children back to school this week according to CBC News.
“The choice was simple for us because I’ve witnessed the harmful consequences of online learning on my children,” said Katherine Korakakis, a Montreal parent and president of the English Parents Committee Association, which represents 100,000 English public school kids in Quebec.
According to a June Ipsos study, 67 percent of Canadian parents feel that virtual learning would affect their children’s future chances.
Her daughters are 11 and 14, and both have had all of their vaccinations. She says it’s been particularly tough to adapt since the end of December, when Quebec re-instituted its curfew (which was removed on Monday), outlawed private meetings between members of different homes, and switched to virtual learning.
Korakakis will bring her children back to school on Tuesday for in-person teaching, as several school boards in Quebec and Ontario have declared a snow day on Jan. 17.
“The school boards and the schools that my children go have HEPA filters. That truly makes me feel extremely protected “Despite the fact that not all schools have similar technologies, Korakakis stated.
Although HEPA filtration is intended to enhance air quality, there is no broad consensus on its efficacy. HEPA filters can be utilised as “extra protection,” according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.