Vancouver rally for mandatory masks in schools to be held Saturday

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – A Vancouver teacher is organizing a rally in the city’s downtown Saturday to demand the province make masks mandatory in schools when kids return to the classroom next month.

Jennifer Heighton, who teaches Grades 4 and 5 says she and other members of her group Safe Schools Coalition BC are upset Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry insists schools are safer than concert halls or restaurants.

“The disconnect between what she’s saying about other places for adults, and the same thing for kids is astounding,” she says. “The Delta variant
is wreaking havoc in the States on young people more and more of them are ending up in the hospital. All the elementary schools are mostly unvaccinated. Why do we think it won’t rip through our under 12? It’s the same variant.”

The group would also like to see more remote learning options and better ventilation in schools.

The rally starts at 1 p.m. outside the Vancouver Art Gallery.

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Data has revealed while COVID-19 transmission has occurred in schools across the province, it is only at the same or a slower rate than the rest of the general community.

Researchers looked at blood samples and infections among 1,556 teachers and staff throughout the Vancouver school district and found 2.3 per cent tested positive for antibodies to the virus that causes COVID-19. They say that mirrors the rate of positive tests from a matching group of people who did not work in schools. The study has yet to be peer-reviewed but was published early to share the data quickly.

The upshot, according to the study, is there is limited chance of developing the illness through contact in a school setting.

However, the data was based on a time when heftier COVID-19 protocols were in place in schools.

Mask-wearing standards in schools will be set later this summer.

Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix are expected to provide an updated return-to-school plan in the coming weeks, however as it stands, things are expected to be back to near-normal when kids return to the classroom in September. The smaller learning cohorts, which were introduced last year in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19, will no longer be in place and students will be back full time for in-person instruction.

Remote learning will no longer be an option.

The province’s restart plan says B.C. could enter stage 4 as early as Sept. 7. This would include making masks a recommended, but personal choice, and a return to normal social contacts. This is predicated on having more than 70 per cent of adult population with Dose 1 of a COVID-19 vaccine and if cases remain low and stable or in contained clusters, and COVID-19 hospitalizations remain low.

The southern Okanagan remains under stricter COVID-19 protocols due to an ongoing outbreak in the region.

With files from Marcella Bernardo