In a recent press conference, the Alberta provincial government announced it would be re-implementing some of the health measures that were dropped ahead of the start of the school year. The reason for this is because 25% of the current active COVID-19 cases in Alberta are children between 5 and 17 years old.
While addressing this topic of concern, Premier Jason Kenney was accompanied by the health and education ministers on Tuesday afternoon to announce about contact tracing in schools.
He said that schools would be forced to study online whenever cases of COVID-19 are reported. For instance, if a class reports about 3 cases within five days, the whole class will be ordered to do online learning, as announced by Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the chief medical officer of health.
The fourth wave is difficult, particularly for children whose families are not eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. Currently, Alberta Health Services does not have enough staff to conduct contact tracing. It is until Oct. 12 that the exercise will begin when the institution has garnered enough health professionals.
Schools with considerable cases of COVID-19 will be considered for rapid testing. Since 6 million rapid tests are in order, parents can request the rapid tests from the schools and perform them at home.
Although critics say that the Alberta province moved too slow, LaGrange defended the move and insisted that the health measures would benefit the province to ensure that in-person learning is successful. Nonetheless, the school staff will not be subjected to compulsory vaccination.
