The idea of retaining staff infected with COVID-19, but asymptomatic, is gaining ground in the school network. Stakeholders in the education sector fear that this exceptional measure, announced by Quebec for “essential workers” in health and other sectors, will become necessary in schools because of the lack of personnel due to the explosion of infections. .
“This question is quite legitimate to ask,” said Nicolas Prévost, president of the Quebec Federation of school directors (FQDE).
“With the exponential increase in cases, it is inevitable that we will run out of people at the start of the school year. We must think about ways to avoid service breakdown, ”adds the representative of school principals from 20 school service centers.
The number of teachers or other categories of staff put in isolation due to COVID-19 remains unknown, on the holiday break. However, the school network is following the surge in infections with concern. Primary and secondary schools must reopen remotely from next week, which will allow isolated students and teachers to continue their activities from home.
Actors in the network fear, however, a large number of unincorporated classes if the return to attendance is maintained as planned the following week, January 10.
In the health network, more than 7,000 workers are already missing. For this reason, representatives of the Department of Health and Social Services said on Wednesday that the employment of asymptomatic workers, despite an infection with COVID-19, aims to “preserve services that have a direct impact on health or the security ”of Quebecers.
This “extraordinary measure” will apply to essential health workers, but also to firefighters, police, as well as those responsible for waterworks, snow removal or electricity, said Dr Richard Massé, strategic medical adviser of the General Directorate of Public Health. Day care centers and the education sector are not affected by this decision.
Everything for class attendance
Nicolas Prévost warns against the temptation to fall back on distance education over a long period of time. This “last resort” solution is better than nothing, but “clearly does not bring in the same dividends as teaching in attendance,” recalls the president of the FQDE.
Schools officially remained open this fall, but class closures and periods of isolation due to infections have disrupted the learning of thousands of students, underlines Nicolas Prévost. This is why he insists on doing everything possible to keep schools open – in a safe manner – despite the surge in COVID-19 cases.
He hopes that the actors of the school network “will take a greater place” in the decision to keep schools open for the coming year or not. We must take into account the importance of pedagogy and the mental health of students, according to the representative of school principals.
“Absolutely not safe”
Josiane Cossette, president of the governing board of a Montreal elementary school, agrees to try to keep schools open, but she does not see how students could return to class on January 10. “Schools were caught on fire before the holidays, imagine with 15,000 cases per day! If we open the schools, we will overwhelm the health sector, ”she said.
Schools were the primary focus of outbreaks in Quebec even before the rise of the Omicron variant: 29,671 students and staff were infected during the fall, and 2,460 out of about 3,000 schools reported at least one diagnosed case of COVID-19, according to data from the Ministry of Education.
Josiane Cossette expects virtual education for a while after the holidays. She said she wanted a return to presence accompanied by strong measures to strengthen protection against the virus: N95 masks for students and staff, rapid tests every day to keep infected people at home, installation of air purifiers equipped with HEPA filters …
“It’s absolutely not safe now. We can’t just tell teachers to open the windows, ”drops the mother.
Like other players in the school network, she fears that the government will end up decreeing in the coming months the retention of education workers infected with COVID-19, but having no symptoms. The pill would be easier to swallow “if we deployed as many means as possible to mitigate the transmission of the virus,” she said.
With Anne-Marie Provost