Plans are being finalized for students in Chatham-Kent to return to school this fall.
Chatham-Kent Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Colby said electronic meetings are scheduled starting on Thursday with local school board officials and concrete information should be available next week.
Colby believes the same COVID-19 prevention and management measures will continue at local schools this year until a COVID-19 vaccine is approved for those 12 years of age and under. He said monitoring, screening, contact tracing and isolation, and cohorting will continue, along with vaccination clinics at schools for eligible students.
If you're worried about super-spreaders at school, Colby said they're rare. Colby admitted a super-spreader event is possible at schools, specially in elementary schools where students don't have access to vaccinations because a vaccine hasn't been approved for use yet, students are not forced to wear a mask, and there could be unvaccinated teachers dealing with students. COVID-19 vaccines are not mandatory for teachers.
"The majority of people that are infected are not super-spreaders. Super-spreaders are people that are excreting large amounts of virus," he said. "We really need to get out of this binary thinking pattern where it's one thing or another when in reality it's not black or white, it's shades of grey."
Colby is also explaining why other student vaccinations such as those that protect against HPV and Rubela are mandatory but the COVID-19 vaccine is not. He said they're in the Immunization of School Pupils Act and the Ontario legislature could add COVID-19 to the list of required vaccinations for school but they are unlikely to even consider it until vaccines are approved for use in the under 12 age group.
He said vaccination is the most powerful tool available to combat COVID-19 and wishes a vaccine was approved for students 12 years old and under.
