Quebec elementary students return to class, but questions remain about safety

Elementary schools in Quebec are reopening today with new infection control measures in place, but unions, parents and expertsare worried the government still isn't doing enoughto keep classrooms safe from COVID-19.

Students in elementary school willnow be required to wear masksinhallways, common spaces and buses. Those in Grades 5 and 6 will also have to wear a mask inside their classrooms.

Quebec announced the changes last week, part of the latest round of public health rules aimed atstemming the tide of infections.

At thecurrent pace, infectionsand hospitalizations are threatening to overrun the provincial health-care system, which is already struggling to find extra capacity to deal with the onslaught of new cases.

The situation is sufficiently dire that Premier Franois Legaulttook the extraordinary step of imposing aprovincewide curfew, which began Saturday, and extending the closureof non-essential retail stores.

Since the start of the second wave,more than 21,000 students and teachers have tested positive for COVID-19.

Elementary classes are resuming in-person on Mondayafter a week of online learning. High school students will continue learning online for another week before in-person classes resume on Jan. 18.

But so far Legault's government has resistedusing extended school closures as a means of bringing the second wave under control.

Controversy over air purifiers

Education Minister Jean-Franois Robergesaid extending the mask mandate to elementary students will help limit the number of new infections at schools.

At the same time, though, Robergeopted not to implement a number of other measuresthat have been used elsewhere.

Most controversial was hisdecision to forgo installing air purifiers in classrooms across the province, a tool advocates believeis essential to combating aerosol transmission of COVID-19.

Roberge's decision was based on recommendations from public health officials, who claim air purifiers are too complicated to install in classrooms and not efficient enough to be of much use.

That angered members of COVID-STOP, a group of health professionalsthat has been pushing the government to take aerosol transmission more seriously, especially in schools.

The public health recommendations on air purifiers are out of step with a growing body of international scientific evidence,saidNancy Delagrave, the group's scientific director.

"I'm surprised we're still have this debate in Quebec," she said. "We feel that Public Health needs to have a more multi-disciplinary point of view."

One of Quebec's largest teachers' unions is alsourgingRobergeto reconsider the value of air purifiers.

"I think he's jumping to conclusions too quickly,"Sonia Ethier, who heads the Centrale des syndicats du Qubec, a public-sector union that represents around 65,000 teachers in the province.

Shedismissed some of the minister's reasons for rejecting air purifiers, such as noise levels, and said teachers could easilybe instructed on where to place them.

The minister's arguments against purifiers, she said, "were stitched together with a big white thread."

Multiplying measures

Dr. Matthew Oughton, an infectious disease specialist at Montreal's Jewish General Hospital, said the science surrounding ventilation and COVID-19 is complicated.

It's not uncommon for different experts to draw different conclusions from the same set of data, he said.

But he acknowledged that air purifiers could contribute to lowering infections inschools, especially if combined with otherpublic health measures.

One optionis reducing class sizes. This could be achieved byallowing parents to keep their children at home and learn online, a policy adopted by Ontario at the outset of the school year.

The CSQ teacher union is proposing cutting class sizes in half by alternating the days students attend school in-person, which is already done in some high schools.

"You could argue air purifiers can be used as a temporary bridging measure, on top of other measures, such as everyone masking, trying to improve distancing in classrooms and making sure there is easy access to hand sanitizers," Oughton said.

Without a wider rangeof protective measures in place, though, and with infection rates still sky high, many parents are anxious about sending their children back into classrooms.

Berta Ricciuti, a Montreal high school teacher and mother of four, said she was"absolutely not comfortable" with her daughter starting class on Monday and wants continued access to onlinelearning.

"[Legault] should give us the choice," she said Sunday. "We are better placed to judge the well-being of our children."