Ontario's delay of in-person schooling by just 2 days is a 'gamble,' Essex teachers' union rep says
CBC
The Ontario government's decision to push the start of in-person learning by two days has some parents calling the move unnecessary, but the head of a local teachers' union says more time is needed before classes at schools resume.
On Thursday, provincial medical officer of health Dr. Kieran Moore said in-person classes will resume Jan. 5 rather than Jan. 3, as COVID-19 cases continue spike.
Mario Spagnuolo, president of the Greater Essex Teachers' Federation of Ontario, told CBC News that it seems the two days wouldn't be long enough to let the COVID-19 surge settle or allow more masks and ventilation filters to arrive at schools. He "would encourage" Windsor-Essex's acting medical officer of health to extend school closures for at least a week.
"It would be prudent to lengthen that closure and to allow for online learning to take place so that these safety precautions and measures that the government announced today can actually be put in place," he said, adding it would also give students and staff time to get vaccinated.
"On Wednesday, it will be no different than on Monday."
As of Friday, the province is reporting 16,713 new COVID-19 cases. On Thursday, Windsor-Essex had more than 1,200 active cases, and 12 schools and daycares were listed as being in outbreak.
One parent, Sarah Wuerch, agreed that not much will change in those two days, so children should return to school Monday as planned.
Wuerch, who has four elementary school-aged kids in the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board, said the short notice leaves her with limited babysitting options as both she and husband can't work from home.
"It's just a little more of a struggle," she said, because she'll have to find a babysitter "and plan what to do for my kids," she said.
"It's been stressful. Virtual learning doesn't work out very well, especially with my young ones ... it's stressful to find a balance."
Kristen Siapas, whose four children are in the local French Immersion public school system, doesn't believe parents were given enough time.
"We're looking at these two days as parents and going, 'What is this giving us? What is this buying us? Is two days going to change the numbers drastically?' ... These two days do nothing but mess up a week for people. This isn't a plan, this is just something to disrupt our plans and something that makes things unnecessarily difficult for parents," she said.
"All we're left with is frustration and a lack of answers, as usual ... it's not a great way to kick off the year."
In addition to two days of virtual learning, the government announced the following:
Windsor-Essex, Chatham-Kent and Sarnia can all expect between 20 and 40 millimetres of rainfall this weekend.
More Alberta seniors are now eligible for a provincially funded RSV vaccine.
More than 100 workers at a steel plant in eastern Ontario are being laid off either temporarily or permanently, as a company with facilities in Quebec and Ontario cuts its workforce due to challenging market conditions — including U.S. tariffs.
A small town northwest of Thunder Bay, Ont., has become the unlikely home for hundreds of foreign workers, but many may have to leave the community they've embraced after the end of a federal program put in place to fill gaps in Canada's labour market.
There's mixed reaction in Waterloo to an injuction allowing police to detain, arrest and charge anyone who is participating in unsanctioned street parties in that city this weekend.
Diabetes Canada is excited about Prince Edward Island's new pharmacare deal with the federal government, but hopes the province will reevaluate copays on diabetes supplies, says a senior manager with the organization.
After 26 years of accommodating guests from across the world, Faith Embleton says she and her husband Ken are ready to sell their bed and breakfast.
A group of big-name companies including Google, Meta and Dow have signed a pledge to support tripling the world's nuclear energy capacity by 2050, a signal of the technology's growing resurgence in popularity.
Five years on, Toronto-area doctors and public health officials are looking back at what they've learned since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic — and most agree the early experience will prove useful if the city faces another infectious disease crisis.
City staff would like Londoners to take a good look around their home and ask themselves a direct and possibly difficult question: Could everyone in your family survive at home, without leaving and with no other help, for a full 72 hours?
Liberal Leader Mark Carney will officially become Canada's next prime minister within a few hours, taking the reins as the country barrels toward a general election and continues to fend off verbal and economic attacks from U.S. President Donald Trump.
Recent cyberattacks in Newfoundland and Labrador should have been a wake up call for the federal government about the reality of an increasingly hostile world, says one cybersecurity expert.
A recent CBC News analysis found that Nova Scotia is rapidly losing some of its most affordable apartments, but housing experts say there are ways to prevent that.