Vancouver (NEWS 1130) — The British Columbia Teachers’ Federation is promoting a mask mandate at school when students and teachers return to school next month.
This is because state health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said the school would function almost normally when the state moved to Stage 4, despite the fact that Delta variants were causing the incident throughout the state. is.
BCTF President Teri Mooring states that mask obligations remain important to the safety of staff and students.
“Both young people and children who have not yet been vaccinated, or who have not been fully vaccinated, or are not qualified. Therefore, some protective layer is still needed and without masking, it is actually protected. Not done, “she says.
Mooring wants to do full masking when the school starts in September and then phase out it locally in areas with low transmission speeds.
Related article:
“But to do that, we need clear, transparent data that is locally accessible and publicly accessible. This is an area we are really promoting, and more. Greater, more transparent, publicly available data. “
In a statement last month, BCCDC stated that schools are at low risk of COVID-19 infection during the 2020-21 academic year.
“”[Schools were] A place with a low risk of COVID-19 infection if infection prevention and exposure control measures (also known as health and safety measures) are implemented. “
She says she is worried about comments made by some members of the school community about not needing masks in the classroom.
“Unsatisfied is that teachers work very hard to make sure that students are wearing masks, that they are washing their hands, and that they are away. So the students at school were safe at the expense of their physical and mental health. “
The mooring understands that the decision to implement a mask mandate comes from a combination of state government and state health departments, but requires that the decision be made before the start of the school year.
It’s the same problem #bced school. We need a more aggressive approach rather than a continuous reaction. Masking is a very simple and easy step. https://t.co/m9600sT4YZ
–Teri Mooring (@TeriMooring) August 14, 2021
“The last thing we want to do as a BCTF is to keep discussing masks. This is not supported by anyone, so we are in favor of Maskman Date to start the school year. . “
Although there are percentages of teachers who may disagree with Maskmandate, Mooring says more than 80% of teachers support mandate.
“The disagreement about masking is one of the reasons why masking needs to be mandatory.”
Meanwhile, according to Mooring, vaccination rates for faculty and staff are high throughout the state.
read more: BC requires long-term care workers to be vaccinated with COVID-19
“All the feedback we received, all the surveys we did, don’t hesitate to vaccinate among teachers,” she says. Even fully vaccinated people still need to be vigilant. “
Mr Mooring said the BCTF would support vaccination obligations for teachers if the state decided to vaccinate, but she says it would be much more complicated for students aged 12-17.
“The vaccination situation cannot limit their attendance at school, but they can certainly require masking,” she says. “That’s why masking is essential.”
Sally’s teacher wants to implement COVID-19 measures
Matt Westphal, President of the Sally Teachers Association, hopes that the same mistakes will never happen again.
“My biggest concern is that I may experience the repetition of last year, which means starting with lower safety measures and withholding more serious measures only when the situation really gets worse. Means, “he says.
“And the mask is the best example. As Dr. Henry described the mask as a last resort in carrying out his mission. Personally, I think it’s the opposite of what it should be. Should be the first resort. “
He says the association will consider supporting the obligation of vaccines for its members.
“Vaccines are the best option needed to reduce the risk of getting COVID and having adverse consequences,” he added, recommending that everyone be vaccinated.
“People have good medical reasons for why they can’t, so we’ll need to know what the plans are for them so they can keep working. Is there an alternative they can do to do that? “He says.
As with mooring, Westphal wants the state to start with strong measures and then coordinate.
“This is a way to mitigate risk from the first day of the school year. Hopefully there will be no need to close or occur schools,” he says.
“My biggest concern is having the same paradigm of a single approach to the entire state, doing as much as needed (as they think it is needed) and strengthening it. I don’t think it will work, so I’m going to make a terrible sacrifice on the morale of the staff. “
