By: Chris Edwards
Next Tuesday the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board will vote in a special board meeting on whether to reinstate a mask mandate for its staff and students.
According to a draft of the motion, if passed it will require the use of “surgical or N95 masks by all educators, staff, and students in all OCDSB buildings and in all OCDSB-led activity,” with exceptions for musical productions, sports and lunch breaks.
The new rules could go into effect as early as Wednesday, Nov. 23.
If passed the mandate will stay in place until Ottawa Public Health declares the end of the influenza season in the city and no longer officially advises the public to wear masks in indoor spaces. Additionally, the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario’s pediatric occupancy will need to be “less than 85 [per cent] for a period of at least two weeks.”
The Public Health Agency of Canada reported on Tuesday that Canada is entering an influenza epidemic, defined as cases of the flu rising beyond the seasonal threshold.
On Nov. 10, Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam stated in a press conference that while masking is recommended, mandates will be left up to provincial authorities.
Ontario’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Kieran Moore announced on Tuesday that the provincial government will not implement a mask mandate, though it is “strongly recommending” Ontarians wear a mask in all indoor spaces.
Ottawa-Carleton school board member Nili Kaplan-Myrth, who wrote the motion, said Friday that Moore’s recommendation doesn’t go far enough. “To be a leader, to you need to walk the walk,” she said. “Kids are ending up in hospital. Respiratory illnesses are spreading in our schools because of lax masking, and the board is letting it happen.”
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, which presides over half of all Ottawa public school students, has the power to implement a mask mandate for their facilities, even if municipal and provincial governments have not done the same.
Ottawa hospitals are struggling with a rapid rise in intensive care unit visits, particularly from children suffering from respiratory viruses like respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), COVID-19 and the flu.
In a call to reporters on Friday morning, CHEO chief of staff Lindy Samson said that her hospital is seeing an average of 241 children coming in for emergency care each day. Its emergency department is set up for 150 a day.
“We are at least double what we usually are set up to see, and today we’re at 200 per cent compared to what we’re usually able to care for,” Samson said. “What’s happening in the community is dictating what’s happening here.”
When asked about the mandate vote, Samson stated that CHEO has been asked to provide expert advice to the Ottawa-Carleton public school board.
“The best approach to stop the most infections from spreading would be for everyone – the whole community – to put their masks back on when they’re indoors,” she said.
Christine Moulaison is the co-chair of the Ottawa Carleton Assembly of School Councils, which represents parent councils at schools in the district.
She says the organization doesn’t have an official stance on the vote, but thinks that most parents will support what’s best for the community.
Regardless of the outcome of the vote, Moulaison urged parents to be respectful and not become angry with teachers and administrators. With children at the centre of the issue, she said, “let’s try and be a picture of what we want them to be.”
The special school board meeting is scheduled to be held at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday Nov. 22, and can be viewed online via the board’s website.
