Calgary students head back to class for another COVID-19-impacted school year

CALGARY – It’s back to class for many kids in the city.

Most public schools are welcoming students back Wednesday morning, but some still have concerns over in-person learning amid the fourth wave of the pandemic and the highly contagious delta variant.

While many adults have had their COVID-19 vaccines, any kid under 12 hasn’t.

Stephen Freedman, professor of pediatrics at the University of Calgary, says there are valid concerns.

---

RELATED: 

• Back to school in-person positive for mental health: psychologist

• Canada’s doctors want COVID-19 measures in place for back to school

• Canadian students share anxieties, hopes for another pandemic altered school year

---

“We need to think about, number one, if kids are sick, they’re not going to missing school again if schools have significant outbreaks, there’s a possibility of closures again, which is really detrimental to the mental health and academic progress of children,” he said.

“The unvaccinated individuals really, primarily are the children and the children don’t have as much of a voice, and they are not the ones who can make public policy. So we need to have the right voice for them.”

He says while fixing ventilation systems at every school would be expensive and complicated, masking is easy.

---

RELATED:

• Rocky View Schools scaling back COVID-19 measures for 2021/22 school year

• Canadian group makes recommendations for safe return to school amid COVID-19

• How at-risk are school-aged children when it comes to the Delta variant?

---

“And [upgrades] will take a long time to achieve intervention whereas mask-wearing is really something that can easily be adapted and implemented across schools.”

All kids in the CBE and the Catholic school system are required to wear masks.

For the latest on COVID-19 and Back to School, head to our special coverage page.