Health officials are all set to stick to the original plan released on July 5th of having students in schools and post secondary institutions back to in person instruction by September 2021 despite the increase in COVID cases.
The return-to-campus guidelines are being analyzed and finalized still with cooperation from school districts and post secondary institutions in light of the fourth wave.
“I do fully expect we’ll have back on-campus instruction, it’s just so very important for young people,” said Dr. Bonnie Henry (via CBC News)
According to the restart plan as it stands currently, vaccinations and masks are not mandatory, only recommended. This looks troublesome considering that cases are increasing recently, for example, last weekend BC saw an average daily case count of 360. Given the new increase in cases, officials are looking into possible extra precautionary measures to be implemented if the trend continues.
University faculties and student groups want officials to revise guidelines and make them stricter in order to ensure safe return to schools.
SFU’s Teaching Support Staff Union (TSSU) is petitioning BC Advances Education Minister Anne Kang to make masks mandatory, implement occupancy limits in consideration with ventilation standards. SFU’s older classrooms are a recipe for transmission due to small and windowless rooms with poor ventilation.
“Even if we do have high vaccination rates, what we know now with the delta variant, is that we really do need to have vaccination along with public health measures,” said Katie Gravestock, a chief steward for the TSSU (via CBC News).
The Confederation of University Faculty Associations of BC have sent a letter to Anne Kang asking her ministry to give universities autonomy to make and implement their own policies instead of the current standard of following provincial guidelines, which don’t seem like enough in light of the recent surge in cases.
The Ministry said that they are working with health experts to ease/respond to these concerns.