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

Some Manitobans are watching nervously as the province prepares to gather a large unvaccinated population in schools while the pandemic's fourth wave appears on the horizon. 

The province will unveil a back-to-school plan Thursday for more than 200,000 students, as a number of variables hang over the year ahead — ranging from the lack of approved vaccines for children under the age of 12 to the high transmissibility of the delta coronavirus variant.

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

"We're talking about a population of unvaccinated individuals — with the exception, hopefully, of teachers and support staff in the schools — so in that context it's a high-risk situation," Halayko said.

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

There is evidence suggesting that youth are 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 and mothers 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 mandate and 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 recent decision to 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'll be able to return to school as normal as possible for this 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 whether Manitoba will change its approach from the past school year, which was marked by mask-wearing, physical distancing and a lot of hand sanitizer.

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

The school year ended with most students in Winnipeg, Brandon and some rural communities learning from their homes as the pandemic's third wave crashed over the province. A few exceptions were made for students, including the 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 province will require mask use indoors for students in Grade 1 and up.

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

The group also wants to see mandatory vaccination for everyone in schools over the age of 12.

Luanne Karn, a Winnipeg educator and parent who is part of 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 has more unease going into this fall than she did last year.

More people will be going to work without masks as 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 then have your daughter going into school and being exposed as well."

Dr. Joss Reimer, the medical lead for Manitoba's COVID-19 vaccine task force, has previously said approvals for a vaccine for children under the age of 12 could 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 NDP has made its own requests, calling for more full-time staff, vaccine clinics in schools and improved ventilation.