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home / 世界杯决赛2022

limit holiday socializing and extracurriculars for kids, ottawa's top doctor says as school outbreaks explode

ottawa public health reported eight new outbreaks in schools and childcare centres on thursday, bringing the number of ongoing outbreaks to 29. of those, 23 were in elementary schools.

by jacquie miller

dec 10 2021
read time 4 minute read
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as we slide into the holiday season with cases of covid-19 on the rise and the omicron variant lurking around the corner, ottawa’s medical officer of health has some advice for how to make festivities safer.
limit your socializing and extracurricular activities for kids, dr. vera etches pleaded thursday at a media conference.
much of her advice was directed at parents of children as the city faces an “explosive” rise of covid-19 cases in elementary schools. the number of children aged five to 11 contracting the disease is rising exponentially, etches  said.
ottawa public health reported eight new outbreaks in schools and childcare centres on thursday, bringing the number of ongoing outbreaks to 29. of those, 23 were in elementary schools.
campaigns are under way to immunize children age five to 11 against covid-19 after the pfizer vaccine was approved from them in late november. however, the kids won’t be protected by two doses during the school holiday break. with an eight-week gap between doses, it will be february and later before children are fully immunized.
etches said ottawa residents already knew what public-health measures were needed to slow the spread of covid-19 and she’s counting on people to act on them.
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for instance: keep gatherings small; limit indoor gatherings with unvaccinated or partly vaccinated people such as children, especially where masks are not worn; hold gatherings outside if you can; open the windows to increase air circulation and stay home if you are sick.
ontario covid-19 regulations currently allow social gatherings of 25 people indoors and 100 people outdoors. people however, will have to make their own risk assessments, etches said. “i think, if we go back to what we’re all trying to do is care for each other. what we’re all trying to do is be careful to keep each other safe.”
the goal is to keep kids in school and people out of intensive care, etches said.
she suggested families could consider delaying holiday celebrations until march.
parents should also limit extracurricular activities for children who aren’t fully vaccinated, she said.
while those activities are important, keeping schools open is more important, she said.
“these are the kinds of things that it’s tough, tough, tough to say. but i think we’d rather make it through this together, keeping things manageable.”
etches said she was concerned about the rising covid-19 infections in the city and hinted that, if things get worse, restrictions would be needed.
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“i’m worried that, if this trend continues, we will see an increase in social disruptions, including more class and school dismissal and the reintroduction of restrictions on gatherings in homes, and perhaps in public settings such as restaurants and bars, cinemas, fitness facilities and other businesses.”
several other health units in ontario with higher rates of covid-19 than ottawa’s have imposed restrictions, including kingston, algoma and windsor. in kingston, which has become a provincial hot-spot, for instance, indoor social gatherings are now limited to 10 people.
nearly two years into the pandemic, most people are aware of what public-health measures are needed to curb transmission of the virus, said raywat deonandan, an epidemiology professor at the university of ottawa.
while guidance is useful, the problem with numerical limits such as the gathering limit of 25 is that “people kind of cling to them as if they are magical thresholds,” he said.
“ok, they said 25, so we will have 25!”
it might be more useful to explain how the virus spreads indoors, in poorly ventilated spaces with people breathing on each other, he said. “just image what 25 looks like, and do you really think that 25 is safe for your needs?”

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“the message should be, regardless of what number we give you, we recommend you show some additional responsibility and restraint.”
in addition, the risk at indoor gatherings varies depending on a variety of factors, including the vaccination status of guests, their susceptibility to the virus and how many other contacts they have had, he said.
deonandan said he also struggled with the utility of capacity limits, given the acceptance by most experts that the virus is airborne. that means risk can be reduced with good masks and adequate ventilation and hepa filters.
while physical distancing is useful, it does not guarantee safety, he said.
“so, if you’re in an enclosed area, like a large building, and you’re physically distanced for a large period of time, with an airborne virus, that doesn’t matter. it’s going to get you eventually. the duration matters.”
parent ahmed fawal, who has two children at vimy ridge public school, said his family could continue many of the precautions they had taken.
his son, 9, and daughter, 8, ended their participation in extracurricular martial arts when the pandemic began.
“we are always trying to err on the side of caution and doing our best to protect our kids.”

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as for the holidays, it will be quiet, with no large family gatherings, fawal said.
“we’ll see grandma and grandpa, but beyond that i don’t think we’ll be doing very much.”
jmiller@postmedia.com

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