The recent surge in COVID-19 cases in Greater Sudbury schools is “definitely concerning,” said a local teachers' union president, but she said she’s hesitant to make “sweeping remarks” about whether or not all local schools should be shut down.
“I can’t say that for sure, because I’m not a health-care professional — I’m a teacher,” said Liana Holm, president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) Rainbow local, representing elementary teachers working for the Rainbow District School Board.
But, with the most recent information listed on all four school board websites (as of Wednesday morning) showing 51 active cases in 18 area schools, teachers are concerned about their safety and the safety of their students.
Six schools are currently closed. Six schools are currently listed as active outbreaks.
The closed schools include: Lo-Ellen, Algonquin, Jean Hanson, College Notre Dame, Alliance St. Joseph and Walden P.S. There are active outbreaks at Holy Trinity, Alliance St. Joseph, College Notre Dame, Jean Hanson, Algonquin and Lo-Ellen.
There are 117 schools located in our region, which includes Sudbury, Espanola and Manitoulin.
Holm did say the current situation “definitely shows everybody exactly how easy it is for us to contract this virus,” especially when it’s difficult to effectively distance from others while at school.
The government’s plans for schools rely completely on personal protective equipment and hand-washing, she said.
“That makes people nervous,” Holm said.
They’re especially nervous because it is clear how easily the virus spreads within schools once there’s a child or adult that comes down with a case of COVID-19.
Asymptomatic testing recently started in area schools, but the union president said she hasn’t seen the results from those tests as of yet.
In an interview with Sudbury.com on Tuesday, Dr. Penny Sutcliffe, chief medical officer of health for Public Health Sudbury & Districts, said she hasn’t seen any COVID-19 cases stemming from this testing cross her desk yet.
Holm said she is supportive of asymptomatic testing. “I think it’s the only way we’re going to get in front of this virus is if we know who is positive and who is not showing symptoms,” she said.
Elementary and secondary school teachers in Ontario are in Phase 2 of the province’s COVID-19 vaccination plan, meaning they will be eligible to be inoculated between April and July of this year.
Holm said she understands why teachers were not included in Phase 1, as health-care professionals and elderly people living in long-term care need to be prioritized.
However, she said she wished the province had “thought a bit harder” about opening up schools to in-person learning before vaccines were made available to school staff, and without better precautions.
“We need vaccines so that even if we do contract the virus, we don’t have the symptoms that could possibly have us infect our whole families,” Holm said. “We’re in close contact with 30 plus kids in a classroom, but some schools have 200-300 kids in a building.”
Receiving the COVID-19 vaccine is of course a personal choice, but most ETFO members seem to be in favour of receiving the shot, she said.
“All of the people I’ve talked to would like it to roll out sooner rather than later,” Holm said. “They want the vaccine.”
