Alberta’s ‘damning’ notes on masks at school, says union leader

This new evidence is part of an ongoing case involving the Alberta Federation of Labor (AFL) and the parents of five immunocompromised children who are fighting the ruling announced around the peak of the BA variant-fueled fifth wave. 1.

Lawyers are challenging the change in public health policy through judicial review. They argue Albertans have a right to know what the province’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, recommended to cabinet ahead of the decision to lift the mask requirement.

This week, the province was required by a Court of Queen’s Bench judge to turn over evidence about what happened behind closed doors before the change. Despite submitting 183 pages, the province declined to provide key documents, such as Dr. Hinshaw’s PowerPoint presentation to the cabinet on Feb. 8 and the cabinet minutes from that day, citing cabinet confidentiality.

For the President of theAFLGil McGowan, the information provided raises more questions than answers. Even with what there is, I think it tells a pretty damning story of what this government did at the height of the Omicron wave.

According to Gil McGowan, given the limited documents of which theAFLthe decision to lift the obligation to wear a mask was based about politics and a desire to serve the needs of the anti-mask crowd rather than science and a concern about what would be in the public interest.

Higher prevalence without the mandatory mask

A key revelation in the documents ofAlberta Health is that school boards without mask requirements at the start of the 2021 school year had, on average, three times as many outbreaks as those with masks.

Or 23.4 outbreaks on average against 7.3 outbreaks.

Health department staff also noted that case and hospitalization rates were lower in areas where mask requirements were required among children (5 to 11 years old) and adults (30 to 59 year).

The same document also cites an outbreak at Westglen School in Edmonton with 71 cases (70 children and one teacher), which led to significant spread and eventually accounted for 66 of the 94 cases in that neighborhood, reversing a downward trend. cases at the time.

But this information is not included in a memo, dated the same date, sent by political staffers to the Prime Minister, which states that he There is insufficient direct evidence of the effectiveness of masks in reducing transmission of COVID-19 in educational settings.

The note also highlights what it calls the harmful effects mask wearing among children. The personnel documents ofAlberta Health and political staff include references to numerous studies with varying conclusions about masks in schools.

Precautionary principle and scientific advice

Lorian Hardcastle, who teaches in the faculties of law and medicine at the University of Calgary, calls the evidence mentioned in the memorandum to the Prime Minister speculative. For her, many people argue that governments should adopt more of a precautionary principle, especially when it comes to children, but instead they have relied on a lot of very thin and quite speculative evidence. that masks are harmful to children.

The details in these documents underpin the prevailing sense of suspicion among many Albertans that the government has not acted on the scientific advice offered by the Chief Medical Officer of Health, says the political science professor at the University of CalgaryLisa Young.

We basically saw a review of the available scientific evidence that was quite nuanced, which suggested that mask requirements in schools actually had a significant impact on transmission in schools [mais] which was then translated into a memo for the prime minister who said there was really no evidence that masks were helpful in schools.

” This was more than oversimplifying scientific advice. This was really misrepresenting the evidence that had been presented. »

A case that could set a precedent elsewhere in Canada

In an email to CBC, government spokesman Steve Buick says officials weighed the risks and benefits at the time and did their best to balance them.

” We have received advice that masks can disrupt learning and interfere with children’s social, emotional and speech development by impairing verbal and non-verbal communication, emotional signaling and facial recognition. We never said children weren’t at risk for COVID-19, or that masks in schools had no benefit. »

The spokesperson did not respond to questions about why the provincial government continues to refuse to release key evidence in the case.

Lawyers have until June 10 to decide whether they will challenge the province’s cabinet’s request for confidentiality and push for the release of documents the government has so far refused to release.

I think the fact that some of these documents have been leaked is a victory in itself. This is a victory for government transparency and accountabilitysaid Orlagh O’Kelly, one of the lawyers in the case, noting that other provinces are monitoring whether a precedent could be set.

Steve Buick says it became clear in February that it was time to live with COVID-19 and get back to normal given declining rates of hospitalizations and severe consequences, especially for children.

According to the website ofAlberta Healthon Feb. 8, the day the province announced plans to lift mask requirements, there were 1,663 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Alberta, one of the highest hospital totals in the entire province. pandemic.

Based on information from Jennifer Lee