Additional health measures could be imposed in schools due to new strains of COVID-19 discovered in Quebec.
• Read also: Postponement of the second dose of vaccine: successful bet for Quebec
• Read also: All the developments of the pandemic
“With the arrival of new variants, we have to accept to question ourselves. We must agree to see, with Public Health, whether we should take even more measures. We are very open, ”admitted Thursday the Minister of Education, Jean-François Roberge.
Not surprisingly, the virus is still circulating in schools, which now represent nearly 28% of active outbreaks in Quebec.
According to the most recent data, 1,045 classes are closed due to the coronavirus.
Not the status quo
Currently, all elementary school children must wear a face covering in the halls of their establishment. Students of 5e and 6e years wear it at all times, even in the classroom.
The procedural mask is mandatory for high school teens in school.
Stricter isolation measures for students and their families have also been imposed in some areas. Even while waiting for a screening result, all siblings must now self-isolate at home. This is particularly the case in Greater Montreal.
And the emergence of mutations in the virus could force the government to tighten the health rules for young people again.
“This is not the status quo, in government, we are agile. We are working on having more measures. […] We will spare no effort to protect the health of students and staff ”, insisted Mr. Roberge, at the National Assembly.
Real strategy
His liberal opposite, Marwah Rizqy, calls for a real strategy to deal with the new strains of the virus.
“We already have three schools that [ont] the new variants, ”impatiently the member for Saint-Laurent.
She recalls that France has already announced that all cases of students declared positive for COVID-19 will have to be screened within 36 hours of the result of the test to identify or not the presence of a mutation.
–
