A safe and careful return to school? We must all contribute to this effort.

I am sitting here drinking my morning coffee watching the sun come up and the heavy due settle on everything green outside. Fall is coming and there will be so many new things we will need to COVID navigate. My kids are grown and gone. I am trying to imagine how the parents of school-aged kids feel this weekend. Today, I am going to walk in your shoes and think about your fears and concerns.

Let's start right off by continuing to activate to make sure that the re-opening of schools is done safely. I think what the provincial government has done is (I will use the word 'provided' instead or 'thrown') provided extra funds to allow school boards to figure out a safe re-opening. I will say that the leadership from this government up until now with respect to COVID 19 has been exemplary, not perfect, but pretty damn good. They allowed us to dodge a big bullet, saved a lot of lives, exposed some heartbreaking cracks in our longterm care facilities and worked closely with public health officials to keep our hospitals from becoming overwhelmed.

I believe that the provincial government should have come up with a province-wide plan for all school boards and districts that included the capacity to physically distance in classrooms with the financial resources to do so. Our schools need that kind of leadership. It is not too late to insist on such a plan.

Please consider sending an email to your local MPP insisting on a safe return to school for every student across the province by clicking on this link:

https://ontariosafe.com/contact-your-representatives/

In the meantime, I would like to honour the leaders in each school board who have taken this mammoth task on. The principals and vice-principals, the administrative staff, the school boards, trustees and the teachers. They have been working diligently this summer to come up with the strategies required to keep students and staff safe. Thank you!

I have reviewed the Waterloo Region and Upper Grand District school boards plans and they are well thought out. Waterloo is putting students into cohorts, an idea discussed in an earlier post. Upper Grand is using a staggered entry with half the school attending half the week, the other half the rest of the week. Public Health safety measures have been meticulously put into place. The Toronto Board has made masks mandatory in all age groups. I believe the mask will be the most effective tool at preventing outbreaks in our schools and that all children in all grades should be wearing them.

As for the rest of us, in order to make the many and varied safe return to school plans effective, WE MUST KEEP THE LEVEL OF COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION AS LOW AS POSSIBLE BY FOLLOWING PUBLIC HEALTH GUIDELINES FOR THE PREVENTION OF TRANSMISSION OF COVID 19.

The safest school is the school in a community where there is no COVID 19. If COVID 19 is not in the community, an outbreak in the schools is not possible. The numbers of new daily cases in Ontario has been climbing. The last time the number of new cases was under 100 was August 12th and the number has been steadily increasing above 100 since with 162 new cases yesterday. The five day rolling average was 100.6 on the 12th, yesterday it was 149.7.

The strength and integrity of a society is reflected in how well they treat their vulnerable and their children. When you disregard public health guidelines by not wearing a mask, by attending large back yard parties and events where physical distancing is not possible, when you shift from one social bubble to the next for your own convenience and pleasure, you are putting the lives of our children and our teachers at risk.

Let's continue to push the government to come up with a safer plan for all the schools in this province but at the same time, let's get our own house in order again: No more than 10 people in a social bubble, no cheating, no blending and no moving from one bubble to the next. No more than 50 people can gather inside, 100 outside and they all must be 6 feet a part and wearing masks. Masks in all public spaces, all the time. Masks in all public spaces all the time. And, one more time, Masks in all public spaces all the time. I put that mask on and say to myself, 'I am doing this for my fellow man and for THE CHILDREN'!

Coming up, a discussion about flushots and why getting them for many reasons is so important this year.

Please share this widely.

Our children's health and education depend on our continued and diligent adherence to the guidelines that have worked so well up until now.

Anne- Marie

Again, please share.

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