return to school amid covid, again, brings mix of anxiety and hope
with much uncertain and covid-19 cases surging with the arrival of the delta variant, the hope is for things to be "as normal as possible."
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by: rené bruemmer
like most parents, rebecca genest is anticipating the start of another school year in the age of covid with a mixture of anxiety and hope.
unlike most, genest is taking somewhat drastic steps to ensure her children’s education will be as free as possible from fears and disruptions. next week, she will drive her three children 15 hours due north from her home near ottawa to live for a year in the isolated town of radisson, population 500, in the james bay region of quebec. she has been employed since 2007 at the auberge radisson, a three-star hotel, but for the last five years has worked remotely from her home in buckingham, in the hard-hit gatineau region.
the town offers an elementary and high school with a total enrolment of 16, the opportunity for her children to learn french, and, most important, almost zero cases of covid-19. while work was the main impetus — the hotel is in dire need of staff and her in-person presence is needed — the fear of reliving last year sealed the deal. genest wants to avoid the region-wide school closures and stay-at-home orders that forced her to teach her children at home for more than two months last year, while working full time. she found herself working past midnight, then waking at 6 a.m. to look after the kids again.
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“i’ve chosen to bring them up there in case of something breaking out here again,” said genest, the mother of james, 9, owen, 8 and noah, 5. “i respect and appreciate and understand what the government is doing. i get that this is unknown and they are doing their best.” genest’s husband, scott mccone, will have to remain in gatineau for his work.
“at same time i’m nervous about my children catching up, how much have they fallen behind. as parents we feel very responsible for our children’s education. and we’re scared about them catching covid and bringing it home,” genest said.
she’s also concerned about her own mental and physical well being.
“parents,” she said, “are burnt out.”
as close to one million elementary and high school children prepare to go back to school, many quebecers are simultaneously relieved their children are embarking on a relative return to normal, and deeply worried about exposing their children and themselves as cases surge before classes have even begun and the frighteningly contagious delta variant inexorably becomes the dominant strain.
the fear is particularly acute among parents of children under 12 not yet eligible for vaccines, particularly as hospitalizations among children in the united states topped 1,900 cases last week. out of 88 patients hospitalized with covid-19 this week in quebec, five were children under 19.
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anxieties increased after education minister jean-françois roberge’s announcement aug. 11 that children wouldn’t have to wear masks or social distance, and classroom bubbles would be scrapped. given that 76 per cent of eligible quebecers were considered adequately vaccinated as of mid-august (and 85 per cent had first doses), the government may be less aggressive in shutting down classrooms or schools after outbreaks, roberge said. but he stressed that because of the rapidly evolving nature of the disease, rules on masking and other measures could change, a message reiterated by premier françois legault this week.
“we have to walk a narrow path between allowing students to come back to a normal way of life and fighting this pandemic,” roberge said.
confidence was not aided by the premier’s warning cases could rise as high as 2,000 a day once school begins. on tuesday, legault announced quebec was changing its policy and requiring cegep and university students to wear masks, after many institutes of higher learning had already announced they were planning to do so. the issue of masks for younger students is still being discussed, legault said
for many parents, it’s the fear of the unknown that’s the most unnerving, and they’re critical of the government for not providing clearer guidelines sooner.
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“what happens if a school closes?” asked katherine korakakis, president of the english parents’ committee association of quebec. do classes continue online or is everyone just being sent home again, she wondered. “what happens with kids who have some form of illness that doesn’t allow them to be vaccinated? what sports will require a vaccine passport? how will parents juggle school and work if children start getting sent home regularly?
“the start of school is close to a week away, and we still don’t know. we have been lobbying the government very hard to put something in place asap. what we don’t want is what happened last year when things changed on a weekly basis.”
“school is a right. it’s an essential service. it’s not like going to a restaurant.”
given the increased transmissibility of delta, parents are right to be worried, said dr. earl rubin, pediatric infectious diseases specialist at the montreal children’s hospital.
“should people be concerned? yes. i’m concerned,” said rubin, a father of three. “the delta variant will cause more infections in the unvaccinated population because of that transmissibility. combine that with the fact that kids under 12 are not vaccinated, you’re going to have more kids infected. it’s just a numbers game.”
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there is no hard data proving the delta variant will cause more severe disease among children, rubin said. but with anywhere from 0.3 to 1 per cent of all children who are infected going to hospital, simple math dictates more kids getting covid-19 will mean more kids hospitalized. rubin is less worried about high school students, where vaccination rates are in the 80 per cent range.
children who get covid-19 typically present with symptoms similar to a common cold: runny noses and coughs. this will make diagnosing them more difficult when cold season starts, another headache for parents. while symptoms may be mild or even non-existent, the infected can still transmit, posing a risk to the unvaccinated, and even the vaccinated, given that the vaccines are only 80 to 85 per cent effective and “breakthrough infections” are occurring.
which is why rubin says the government’s decision not to mandate masks is perplexing, and wrong.
“wearing masks in elementary school — that’s really one of the only things we have, along with distancing, hand washing and better ventilation, to defend against transmission. if you take those things away, then for sure you’re going to see higher transmission.”
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dr. donald vinh, an infectious-diseases specialist at the mcgill university health centre, likened the government’s wait-and-see attitude on masks to throwing everyone overboard without a lifejacket, then figuring out whether lifejackets should be required based on how many drown.
“you have a recipe here for a potential disaster in the making, and rather than trying to (put in place) measures, we’re actually being very passive about it,” he said.
the situation is worrying for teachers like patricia melnyk, who works in the west island and could be facing up to 260 students a day in seven separate classes.
“i’m a high school teacher in a poorly ventilated, overcrowded school and am anxious about returning,” said melnyk, who is in her 60s and whose husband has health issues. “i’m very concerned that a good number of returning students will not be fully vaccinated and will therefore keep the covid-19 cycle alive.
“what we definitely don’t want is a repetition of last year’s stressful scenario: increasing outbreaks resulting in class closures, yo-yoing with alternating online and in-class learning and an abundance of mental health issues.”
she wants to see class bubbles maintained, and masks in class. whatever the rules, she will wear one, and encourage her students to do the same.
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there are growing signs it’s not just individuals who may choose to go further than provincial guidelines.
quebec’s english school boards disobeyed the government’s cal; to resume full-time in-class learning for secondary 4 and 5 students last spring, saying it was too difficult and dangerous. english montreal school board chairman joe ortona intimated the boards could make decisions of their own again this fall.
“the decision not to require masks” and other safety protocols “is troubling to us,” he said. “these elements allowed us to close very few schools last year.”
the most difficult part for school boards was trying to implement government directives without being given clear scientific reasons for them.
“if parents know the rules are being made for the right reasons, with the right science, you will only have a small percentage of people who break them,” ortona said.
the regional public health directors in montreal and laval have both suggested they, too, may impose mask rules in schools.
it appears the mounting pressure is having an effect. this week, legault said the issues of masks are being evaluated by public health experts on a region-by-region basis, and if they suggest masks should be worn, the government will follow their directives.
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“everything has its balance,” rubin said. “kids want, and their parents want for their kids, for life to be as normal as possible.
“what’s super important is that we do whatever it takes to make sure schools will function, and extracurricular activities can happen again.
“there’s so much that kids have lost out on.”
katelyn thomas of the montreal gazette contributed to this report
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