Playgrounds once again shut down by Winnipeg School Division

All playgrounds on Winnipeg School Division property are off limits to the public once again.

As of May 14, the division has banned use of the structures by anyone other than students, who may only use them during normal school hours.

Notices have been taped to all play structures, explaining that once the school day is done, they are also closed to students. 

The order will remain in place for the duration of the remote learning period, which is scheduled to last at least until May 30.

The province moved all kindergarten to Grade 12 students in Winnipeg and Brandon to remote learning last Wednesday in an effort to curb Manitoba's surging third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Students in two southern Manitoba school divisions will join them starting Tuesday. That will affect all 14 schools in the Winkler-area Garden Valley School Division and all 13 in the Red River Valley School Division, Education Minister Cliff Cullen said Saturday.

Some students continue to attend in-school classes, however. Children of critical service workers, including health-care workers, teachers, law enforcement members and firefighters, can still attend.

Playground closures are being made for the safety of students — both in-school and remote learners — in response to increased use by community members during school hours, the Winnipeg School Division said.

A news release from the division says it recognizes that outdoor play is one of the few pleasures families have at this time, but there's been a significant increase in people congregating at the playgrounds both during and after school hours.

That defeats the purpose of moving to remote learning under the code red or critical level of the province's pandemic response system, which is intended to disrupt the opportunity for the coronavirus to transmit among students and staff in any school setting, the division said in the release.

This is the second time during the pandemic that schools have closed off playgrounds.

In March 2020, school divisions posted signs and removed swings at playgrounds for the same reason. They were later reopened as case counts began to subside.

Manitoba's Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin was asked Monday if the WSD's approach was an effective measure to combat the transmission of the virus, or if it's unnecessarily removing a low-risk activity for parents and their kids.

"A lot of these are difficult decisions. Certainly, outdoor contact is certainly safer [but] not without its risks," he said.

"Right now, our message is to mostly stay home to try to reduce those contacts outside the household. We know that a lot of these activities, while the activity itself might be lower risk, there's a lot of things that go into into that: people and parents gathering at the at the site.

"The balance is difficult [and] I think everyone's just trying to do do their part to try to bring down these numbers. We're at a critical stage here."