The Omicron variant of COVID-19 is making people concerned about their own and their loved ones’ health. Parents are particularly concerned about the health and well-being of their children and hence are not sending children to schools. It happened in Ontario recently when more than 330 schools reported absence rates of 30% or higher by the end of last week after students were allowed to return to school after a while. Interestingly, about 111 schools had absence rates of more than 50%.
Restricted
Testing Policy
The province is
not publishing information regarding COVID-19 vases in schools which is due to
a restricted testing policy. However, it is sharing data on absences online,
whether they are COVID-related or not. According to new guidelines in the province,
families will only be notified when 30% of students and staff members are
absent.
However, Toronto
School Boards still need to inform the impacted classes of any positive case of
COVID-19.
The Ministry has
also decided to make school-by-school absence data available each weekday for
the previous day. This crucial data will be uploaded by 10:30 a.m. each day on this
website.
Stephen Lecce,
the Education Minister, said this on Monday “During a period of uncertainty
around the world, we want parents to have greater knowledge about the rates of
absenteeism in their schools. This ensures parents have daily access to rates
of absenteeism. It also allows families with the use of rapid tests layered
into that knowledge, the ability to take immediate action at home should their
child be symptomatic. All of this, including the enhancements to our PPE, the
accelerated access to boosters, it is all designed to support in-class learning
and reduce risk.”
The Data on
Absentees
The data that
says that over 330 schools reported absence rates of 30% or higher and 111 had
absence rates of over 50% was a part of the data made available for 3,451
schools. The province has 4,844 schools, so the data of some schools was
unavailable.
One interesting
statistic is that the Niagara Catholic District School Board had an absence
rate of 100%, and 21 schools had an absence rate of over 80%. One of the
schools that had reported the highest absences is in Toronto, two are in Parry
Sound, and three are in North Bay. Data says that Kenora, South River, and
Sturgeon Falls also had one school at least with the highest absence rates.
About 16 of the schools in the province were closed as of Friday.
The Previous
Steps
The government
of Premier Doug Ford had chosen to close schools for two weeks earlier this
month when the Omicron cases were rising. At that time, he said that the
province cant guarantee that schools could be kept open as the Omicron spread
was rising, and it was likely to leave many people unable to work due to
exposure or infections.
More
Disruptions Ahead
Unions have
warned families to prepare for more disruptions related to the new variant. Learn
more about the disruptions here.
Sources:
https://www.cp24.com/news/ontario-to-start-sharing-data-about-school-absences-amid-omicron-1.5751858
https://torontosun.com/news/provincial/ontario-to-start-sharing-data-about-school-absences-amid-omicron
https://www.ontario.ca/page/covid-19-school-closures-and-absenteeism
https://globalnews.ca/news/8533553/ontario-school-data-absences-covid-omicron/