The City of Edmonton donated around 50,000 KN95 masks that the province had previously given to the Edmonton Public Schools Board.
During the final months of the pandemic, the province provided the city with KN95 masks, city spokesman Geoffrey Driscoll said. The city has made the masks available to city employees as needed.
Then, in mid-December, the city was asked by the public school board if it had any additional KN95 masks. The city had some additional ones at the end of 2021, Driscoll explained.
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“The City of Edmonton maintains good relationships with various agencies within our region and assists them on a routine basis, when possible,” said Driscoll.
“We recently transferred some of those masks, about 50,000, to the Edmonton Public Schools board,” he added.
“This was a one-time donation with the understanding that the Edmonton Public School Board will share what was supplied with other school boards.”
The city has not provided KN95 masks to any other organization nor does it have any more masks to share at this time.
The NDP’s education critic said this donation is equivalent to a 10-day supply for schools.
Sarah Hoffman said the PCU government is not providing adequate personal protective equipment to schools and local leaders are filling the gaps.
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“Yesterday, hit by rising absenteeism rates, Calgary’s public and separate school districts began purchasing their own N95 masks for school staff. Local leaders are stepping up where the provincial government has refused to act,” he said.
“Schools must be a safe place for students, teachers and all staff. But right now, during this Omicron surge, the UCP has left Albertans to fend for themselves.”
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In addition to N95 masks for students and staff, the Opposition calls on the UCP government to provide HEPA filters for schools, funding for substitute teachers to work full-time, funding for mental health counselors in schools, reports accurate data on COVID-19 infections and absenteeism in schools and financial support to families.
“Our NDP caucus has asked the UCP to provide N95 masks for students and staff, HEPA filters for schools, funding to make full-time substitute teachers, funding for mental health counselors in schools, accurate public reporting of infections and absenteeism in schools, and financial support for families.”
On Friday, Alberta Health reported that 822 people were in the hospital with COVID-19, 81 of whom were receiving ICU care.
The province also said five additional deaths had been reported in the past 24 hours.
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