{"id":16714,"date":"2021-04-16T13:56:41","date_gmt":"2021-04-16T17:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/?p=16714"},"modified":"2021-04-22T15:32:33","modified_gmt":"2021-04-22T19:32:33","slug":"chris-selley-doug-fords-ontario-has-utterly-lost-the-plot-in-closing-down-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/chris-selley-doug-fords-ontario-has-utterly-lost-the-plot-in-closing-down-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Selley: Doug Ford’s Ontario has utterly lost the plot in closing down schools"},"content":{"rendered":"

(April 14, 2021)<\/p>\n

It is testament to Ontarians\u2019 orderly and tolerant ways that the province\u2019s parents have yet to set any government buildings ablaze. On Sunday, Education Minister Stephen Lecce published\u00a0a letter<\/a><\/span>\u00a0to his constituents assuring them that in-person classes would resume for their children after this week\u2019s spring break, except in areas where local public health officers have deemed otherwise. He joined\u00a0British Columbia\u2019s, Alberta\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>and\u00a0Manitoba<\/a>\u2018<\/span>s education ministers in advocating keeping school doors as open as possible, despite widespread calls for them to be closed amidst COVID-19\u2019s third wave. (On Wednesday, the Alberta government agreed to a request by Calgary\u2019s public and Catholic boards to move grades 7-12 online for the time being.)<\/p>\n

\u201cYour children are Ontario\u2019s greatest strength and source of inspiration,\u201d Lecce signed off.<\/p>\n

And then on Monday Premier Doug Ford closed the schools \u2014 all of them, indefinitely \u2014 consigning Ontario\u2019s greatest strength and source of inspiration to remote learning options that are widely described as next to worthless.<\/section>\n
\u201cWe are seeing a rapidly deteriorating situation with a record number of COVID cases and hospital admissions threatening to overwhelm our health-care system,\u201d said Ford, by way of explanation. \u201cBy keeping kids home longer after spring break we will limit community transmission, take pressure off our hospitals and allow more time to roll out our COVID-19 vaccine plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abominable execution aside, in theory this is a defensible decision. Cases and ICU occupancy \u2014\u00a0though certainly not deaths, praise be to vaccines \u2014 are at an all-time high in Ontario. The virus does seem to be spreading at schools, not just appearing from outside: Research\u00a0from the Ontario Health Coalition<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>and\u00a0Dr. Diego Bassani<\/a>,<\/span> an epidemiologist at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto, suggests in some cases it\u2019s spreading faster in schools than in the wider community, which is something we haven\u2019t seen before.<\/p>\n

We shouldn\u2019t be surprised by that, though. If any environment in an otherwise locked-down province is going to see higher-than-average spread of a much-more-contagious strain, it makes sense that schools would be one, no matter what preventive measures are in place. Societies around the world have tolerated schools\u2019 unique risk profile for two major reasons: because we all agree \u2014\u00a0or I thought we did \u2014\u00a0that they\u2019re incredibly important; and because children are not at any significant risk of severe illness from COVID-19.<\/p>\n

Alas, officials evince very little evidence of having taken into account the importance of schools, as opposed to their potential as a disease vector. Quite the contrary, even. In supporting the province\u2019s decision, Toronto Mayor John Tory said \u201cwe have to do everything we can to make sure that our children are safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s maddening that this still needs saying: New variants or no new variants, by any reasonable measure, the children are safe.<\/p>\n

COVID-19 has killed seven Canadians under 20. In 2018, 336 Canadians under 20 died in accidents alone; a few of them were likely on their way to school.<\/p>\n

The latest reported COVID-19 fatality in that age group was\u00a0an unidentified 16-year-old in Montreal last week<\/a>.<\/span> \u201cPeople who die at a young age of COVID-19 are generally people who have significant co-morbidities,\u201d a spokesperson for the Sainte-Justine pediatric hospital said. Children with significant comorbidities \u2014 themselves, or among their family members \u2014 do not need to go to school in person in Ontario. Indeed, all parents are currently offered online learning for their children, if they want it.<\/p>\n

COVID-19 has sent 897 Canadians under 20 to hospital. In 2018, 2,371 children aged five to 17 were hospitalized for pneumonia, 2,361 for asthma, 8,054 for appendicitis, and nearly 20,000 for mental health issues.<\/p>\n

The only statistically significant risk is to teachers, and even that should be kept in perspective: Five times as many Canadians aged 20 to 60 died in accidents in 2018 as have died so far from COVID-19. Eleven times as many died from cancer. But it\u2019s maddening that teachers haven\u2019t been moved further and more quickly up the priority list. The last Ontario schools to reopen after Christmas did so when the province was seeing around 40 deaths per day; it\u2019s currently at half that, and vaccination means it is unlikely ever again to approach that level. In the medium term, surely we can all at least agree that once teachers are vaccinated and ICUs are under control, the kids need to get back to school as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

In the short term, however, there is absolutely no reason for this rule to apply province-wide, nor is any explanation on offer for why it does.<\/p>\n

As of Tuesday the provincial database showed 114 active school outbreaks in Toronto, 51 in York, 45 in Peel, 28 in Durham. In the majority of Ontario\u2019s public health regions, there\u00a0were between zero and five active outbreaks. Over the past 14 days, the Peel and Toronto health units have reported 38 and 33 cases per 100,000 per day, respectively, on average. Peterborough, population 148,000, has reported seven per 100,000. Kingston, population 213,000, has reported six. North Bay, population 130,000, has reported 1.4. Why on earth are these places, and the children within them, being treated the same as Toronto and Peel?<\/p>\n

If problems arise, schools can be shut down overnight \u2014 as Ontario parents well know by now. As such, it is very difficult to infer anything from the Ontario government\u2019s actions this week other than untethered, flailing incompetence. It\u2019s not too soon for Ford and Lecce to start talking about how they propose to remedy the damage they\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

Click here for original article<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(April 14, 2021) It is testament to Ontarians\u2019 orderly and tolerant ways that the province\u2019s parents have yet to set any government buildings ablaze. On Sunday, Education Minister Stephen Lecce published\u00a0a letter\u00a0to his constituents assuring them that in-person classes would resume for their children after this week\u2019s spring break, except in areas where local public […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ohc-in-the-news"],"yoast_head":"\nChris Selley: Doug Ford's Ontario has utterly lost the plot in closing down schools - Ontario Health Coalition<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"(April 14, 2021) It is testament to Ontarians\u2019 orderly and tolerant ways that the province\u2019s parents have yet to set any government buildings ablaze. 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