Group of B.C. doctors, nurses, scientists wants gov’t to ensure safe school return
Posted August 8, 2023 7:00 am.
Last Updated August 8, 2023 12:15 pm.
A group of doctors, nurses, scientists, and others have written an open letter to the B.C. government demanding it take more steps to ensure a safe return to school this fall.
Protect Our Province BC says it made the same warnings last September, but the province didn’t listen and schools were hit with a “tripledemic” of illnesses — COVID-19, flu, and RSV.
“Unbelievably, we are approaching the fourth unsafe return to school during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” the letter began.
“[Last year,] six BC children died, pediatric hospital ERs crashed and wait times skyrocketed, and schools saw a record number of student and educator absences,” it said.
“Currently in BC, we have no mask protections in schools, no proof of indoor air quality in schools including monitoring of CO2 levels during full class occupancy, no HEPA filtration units available in most classrooms, almost non-existent PCR testing, and only the occasional provincial public health report (and those reports we do see are of limited value).”
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In its letter to the province, the group says a summer wave of COVID cases is on the rise in the United States, with Long Term Care outbreaks beginning to be seen again in B.C., although health authorities no longer need to report them.
“The southern hemisphere always gives us a useful glimpse of our coming fall and winter. Children in Australia are now once again being hit hard by influenza which, just like last year, started early,” it explained. “In short, we are on track for a rinse-and-repeat of last year.”
The group is calling on the government to upgrade air filtration and ventilation, return to masking in classrooms, and engage a bigger push for youth vaccination.
It’s also asking for the government to “name it: Covid is Airborne. SARS-CoV-2 spreads like cigarette smoke and can hang in the air for hours. Infections occur by breathing in aerosols, both near the source and far from it,” the letter said.
With the federal government having a stockpile of almost 40 million rapid antigen tests, the group is also calling on the province to provide tests to students and staff, and give them accurate information on how frequently to test.
“Preventing repeated COVID infections in children should be BC leaders’, educators’, and parents’ top priority,” the group said.
“The BC government must not make the same lethal mistakes it made in 2022. There is still time to turn this around. Act now.”
–With files from Mike Lloyd
