Jarvis: Schools reopen Monday, now we need to make sure they stay open

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Schools will reopen on Monday, as they should.

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Now, we need to make sure they stay open.

Under current Ontario restrictions, you can go to a mall, get a haircut, and get a manicure. But children cannot go to real schools with real teachers, classrooms, and other children.

That is wrong.

This is the third year in a row that education has been interrupted. Schools have been closed three times, four in Windsor and Essex County. They have been closed for a total of more than 27 weeks, longer than anywhere else in Canada and most of Europe.

We have agreed that schools should be the last to close and the first to open. That is not aspirational. Is essential. It is essential that children learn, socialize and develop. We must protect schools the same way we protect health care.

The data shows that student achievement has declined, the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Board states in its latest report this week, and “disruption to learning is cumulative and sustained.”

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Extreme student absenteeism, defined as missing more than half of classes, is six times higher.

It is not only learning that is affected.

“Evidence shows a substantial and sustained deterioration in children’s mental health,” the report stated.

The number of children with clinically significant symptoms of depression and anxiety has nearly tripled to one in four.
for depression and one in five for anxiety.

Social isolation has been a major factor.

And all of this is unfairly compounded for the most vulnerable children, those from low-income families whose parents work essential jobs and who may not have computers, high-speed internet, a place to study or supervision.

It is clear that virtual learning is not a substitute for real schools.

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It’s about weighing the risks.

There will be cases of COVID-19 in schools.

But emerging evidence cited by the scientific table shows that children and young people aged five to 19 are the least likely to experience serious illness from the Omicron variant. While the hospitalization rate for children up to four years old is 8.7 per 100,000 population, it drops to 1.3 for ages five to 11 and 1.4 for ages 12 to 19.

And often hospitalization is associated with other factors such as a chronic medical condition or not being vaccinated.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children was approved on November 19, and a week later Canada had enough to administer the first dose to every child in the country. As of Friday, however, only 38 percent of children in Windsor and Essex counties had received their first dose, and the vaccination rate has slowed.

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We know what else we can do to operate schools safely: proper masks and ventilation, cohorting and distancing, testing and screening. The government is providing N95 masks for teachers, three-layer masks for students, HEPA filters, and rapid tests.

Here is the big key: controlling COVID-19 in the community.

Closing schools has not significantly reduced the spread of the virus in the community compared to other public health measures, at least before Omicron, according to the scientific table. It’s the other way around. Cases in schools largely come from the community.

This is why we need stronger vaccine mandates.

Two more COVID-19 deaths were reported in Windsor and Essex counties on Friday. There were another 270 cases, although the number is probably much higher because we’re not testing everyone with symptoms. There are a total of 3,716 active cases, 104 people in hospitals, although not all of them are there mainly for COVID-19, and 67 outbreaks.

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Some hospitals are overwhelmed. Schools and businesses are closed. Absenteeism in some workplaces is skyrocketing. Omicron hit harder and faster than anyone expected.

Still, we’re not doing all we can. We have reasoned, based on the evidence. We have begged, shamed, punished. We have offered prizes. But too many people remain unvaccinated.

Accommodate the unvaccinated, says Conservative leader Erin O’Toole. How about accommodating the rest of us, children who can’t go to school, patients whose surgeries have been canceled, who have been laid off or lost business, seniors in long-term care homes who can’t leave their rooms?

This is a public health emergency. And vaccination mandates increase vaccination rates.

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It is not about punishing people who are not vaccinated. It’s about protecting everyone.

Yes, people have the right to refuse vaccination. But again, this is a public health emergency. No one has the right to endanger others. And that is what the unvaccinated are doing by spreading the virus and filling hospitals.

All health workers must be vaccinated. All educators and students must be vaccinated. All people who live and work in collective settings should be vaccinated.

Quebec has announced that you must be vaccinated to enter liquor and cannabis stores. Ontario should do that. You must be vaccinated to go to the big stores, Quebec announced. Ontario should do that and add all non-essential stores and services. If you want a vaccination passport, you need a booster shot, as soon as everyone has had a chance to get one, Quebec also announced. Ontario should do that too.

We have the means. Now we need the will.

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