Amid 'high-risk situation,' Manitoba's back-to-school plan should include mask mandate: respiratory expert

Some Manitobans are watching nervouslyas the province prepares to gather a large unvaccinated population in schools whilethe pandemic'sfourth wave appears on the horizon.

The province will unveil aback-to-school plan Thursday for more than200,000 students, as a number of variables hang over the year ahead ranging from the lack of approved vaccines forchildren under the age of 12 to the hightransmissibility of the delta coronavirus variant.

Andrew Halayko,a respiratory illnessexpert at the University of Manitoba, said the province has a lot to think about.

"We're talking about a population of unvaccinated individualswith the exception, hopefully, of teachers and support staff in the schoolsso in that context it's a high-risk situation," Halaykosaid.

"I think the saving grace is the higher riskis with the lowest-risk [population]in terms of diseasevulnerability."

There is evidence suggesting that youthare at much lower risk of severe outcomes resulting from COVID-19, which Halayko says he doesn't discount.

"The downside is these are children that have families that include grandparents, that include uncles and aunts andmothers and fathers, and so there is an interaction there."

Halayko, a professor in physiology and pathophysiology, suggests the province should stay the course with a mask mandateand keeping students in cohorts.

"Until we have hard evidence that there is no risk or that risks that might exist are not real, I think we have to presume that they are."

Most Ontario students will have to wear masks

A mask mandate in schools would fly in the face of the province's recentdecisionto downgrade mask-wearing in other public settings from an order to a recommendation.

The province's top doctor is counting on the pandemic gradually easing its grasp on Manitoba.

"We feel moving forward with our [declining COVID-19 case]numbers, with the vaccine rates throughout Manitobans,that we'llbe able to return to school as normal as possible forthis fall," Dr. Brent Roussin said at a news conference on Tuesday announcing the next relaxing of health orders in Manitoba.

His comments raise questions about whetherManitoba will changeits approach from thepast school year, whichwasmarked bymask-wearing, physical distancing and a lot of hand sanitizer.

Older students often alternated between days in classrooms and dayslearning at home. Schools with declaredCOVID-19 outbreaks were subject to remote learning for a period of time.

The school year ended withmost students in Winnipeg, Brandon and some rural communities learning from their homesas the pandemic's third wavecrashed over the province. A few exceptions were made for students,includingthe children of essential workers,to learn in the classroom.

Ontario announced this week that families can continue with remote learning if they choose in the fall.That provincewill require mask use indoors for students in Grade 1 and up.

SafeSeptember Manitoba, a grassroots advocacy group, is calling for continued mask use here andfor a remote learning option for any family that chooses it.

The group also wants to seemandatory vaccinationfor everyone in schools over the age of 12.

Luanne Karn, a Winnipeg educator and parent who is partof the group, said the province needs to tread carefully before students start sliding into their desks.

"We definitely want in-school learning for these children, and that means taking precautions so that we don't see outbreaks during the fourth wave, which has happened in other jurisdictions already," she said.

The mother of a nine-year-old says she personally hasmore unease going intothis fall than she did last year.

More peoplewill be going to work withoutmasksas the economy opens up, while unvaccinated students are gathering in schools.

"We are more vulnerable to exposure at a time when our daughter is more at risk of getting sick than ever," Karn said.

"It's very difficult for women and mothers and parents to return to work without masks, with hundreds of people around you, and thenhave your daughter going into school and being exposed as well."

Dr. Joss Reimer, the medical lead forManitoba's COVID-19 vaccine task force,has previously saidapprovals for a vaccine for children under the age of 12could come as early as October.

Manitoba's Progressive Conservative government has set aside $58 million to help schools cope with COVID-19 in the upcoming school year.Most of that money $40 million in total will go toward hiring more school staff, learning and technology, and workplace health and safety.

The Opposition NDPhas made its own requests, calling formore full-timestaff,vaccine clinics in schools and improvedventilation.