Ontario has decided to force the schools to reopen on Jan 5 despite record setting COVID cases everyday.  Most of the safeguards that were promised back for schools in August were never put in place and now comes another round of new promises.  

Infection Control Epidemiologist, Dr. Colin Furness has put together a very well written letter which has been published in the media outlining the risk of this move.

The Ontario government is attempting to cover up the reality of COVID transmission in schools as they will no longer be reporting cases from schools.  How are parents supposed to make an informed decision whether their kids are going to a safe environment and potentially risk bringing COVID home to other vulnerable family members under the same household?  How are teachers supposed to know what they are walking into everyday?  

Dr. Moore personally said the worst of Omicron will likely come in 6-8 weeks yet they felt it was fine to delay school openings by only 2 days.  No testing protocols have been put in place other than the 5 RATs that were sent home with kids few weeks again when case numbers were 10% of what it is today.  It’s ludicrous that the guidance is simply to assume COVID if someone has a single symptom - is that not more disruptive than simply delaying the startup by a few weeks to get over the worst of this?

There’s no dispute that face to face education is beneficial to all children; however a few weeks delay would accomplish a lot more:

- More people can get their booster shots.
- More children can get their 1st/2nd dose.
- Ensure that most of the children can continue their education uninterrupted once the worst of Omicron is over will be much more beneficial to their physical and mental health.

Doug Ford and his team needs to stop using this as a way to gain votes for the June election.  They need to put the health of the children ahead of his hidden political agenda for once.