report on how to safely send ontario students back to school raises concerns

by jacquie millersome doctors are questioning the advice in a report by sickkids hospital that recommends ontario children can return to school in the fall without masks or strict rules on physical distancing.update:  back to school in ontario: students will mix part-time classes with learning at home, says provincethe school reopening report by experts from sickkids hospital in toronto said the risks to children of contracting or transmitting covid-19 must be balanced with the harm to them posed by not attending school regularly and being kept physically distant from others.dr. nisha thampi, a pediatric infectious diseases physician at cheo, said she shares concerns raised about the report’s “content and comprehensiveness.”thampi, the medical director of the infection protection and control program at cheo, is the doctor who created a “handwashing song” for children during the covid-19 pandemic that has been translated into 27 languages and is used around the world.in a lengthy thread on twitter, thampi warned there are “huge gaps” in knowledge about the virus among children in ontario.the sickkids report says the risks of covid-19 in children “appear to be minimal.” there is mounting evidence that children may be less susceptible to the virus and may be less likely to transmit it to others, and “strong” evidence that most children who become infected don’t have symptoms or experience only mild ones, the report says.however, thampi said there is “limited knowledge” of covid-19 transmission among children, due to early school closures and lockdowns, except in some settings outside of canada.for months, children were not routinely tested unless they were hospitalized, she wrote.thampi said she agrees with the sickkids report’s contention that children should return to school for their own health and welfare, not simply because parents need to return to work.she suggests the report is a good starting point for broader consultations and discussions about how to safely reopen schools.ontario should consider a “phased approach” to school reopenings based on local covid-19 conditions as well as the ages of children, thampi wrote.similar advice was offered by the association representing ontario’s public school boards, which recommended the government phase in school reopenings and make allowances for regional differences.some areas of the province, such as toronto, are covid-19 hotspots, while other regions have not been hit as hard.ontario education minister stephen lecce is expected to announce on friday afternoon a framework for schools to reopen in the fall. he has said he will rely on advice from public health authorities as well as experts from sickkids hospital.jmiller@postmedia.comtwitter.com/jacquieamillerdon’t miss the latest on covid-19, reopening and life. subscribe to healthing’s daily newsletter coming out of covid.