COVID-19 case numbers are increasing among Saskatchewan students.
The Saskatchewan NDP said there has been an 800-per cent increase in the number of children and youth who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus since the beginning of October.
As of Monday, 1,081 of the 5,182 total COVID-19 cases in the province involve people 19 years of age and under.
Last week, the government recommended schools with at least 600 students should consider moving to Level 3 of the Safe Schools Plan. Under that level, face-to-face learning is reduced, there is a shift to some home learning and the number of students in the school at the same time is reduced.
“That’s not the way this should be. It should be very clear from the government which school divisions are at which level and coming behind that, the supports to make sure that they can adapt to those levels,” NDP Leader Ryan Meili said Monday.
“Largely, they’ve left this up to the school divisions, school divisions that don’t have departments of public health.”
Education critic Carla Beck said clear direction is needed from the government for schools to deal with the pandemic.
“Schools are one of the only places, if not the only places, where we see hundreds of people congregating indoors for hours at a time,” Beck said.
“And it really is important that we do everything we can to keep those numbers low in schools, both for the safety of those in schools, but also families of those students and those staff members and to avoid a larger shutdown of the economy in the long term.”
The province also made masks mandatory as of Nov. 16 in public places for all communities with a population of at least 5,000, and bedroom communities around Saskatoon, Regina and Prince Albert.
Meili said more needs to be done.
“We need to expand the mask mandate province-wide. We need to ramp up testing and tracing. This is something that is absolutely key,” he said.
“And… reduce the number of people in classrooms to everything we can to reduce those bubbles.”
Education Minister Dustin Duncan said along with the recommendation to move to Level 3, $51.8 million has been allocated to school divisions for a number of measures.
Duncan said among that funding is $19.1 million for sanitization. $13.2 million for supports for immunocompromised students and $9.5 million for additional distance learning capacity.
The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) says it remains deeply concerned about the situation in schools.
“These measures leave staff and students in elementary schools and schools with student populations less than 600 vulnerable and exposed. All staff and students require a safe school environment,” said STF president Patrick Maze.
Maze is calling for masks to be made mandatory for all staff and students and for all schools in the province to move to Level 3.
“Recommendations are insufficient. We need clear, consistent directives from government,” Maze said.
“Our hope is to avoid a full closure of schools again. The education system is fragile and its success is key to the economic health of our province.”
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe tweeted Sunday that further measures are being considered in consultation with public health officials, but did not indicate what those measures might be.
“If you’re putting in real measures, you give them a real shot. But these weren’t real measures. So now we’re hearing from the premier that he’s maybe finally starting to understand that this is a serious situation,” Meili said.
“What he’s been telling people is that he’s not going to allow any further lockdowns. We’ll see what he actually does, but if we look at his leadership these last few weeks it’s pretty embarrassing.”
Hundreds of doctors have also criticized the recent public-health measures as not going far enough to reverse community transmission.
Leaders of different economic groups and chambers and commerce, however, are applauding the Saskatchewan Party government’s approach, because it has not forced many businesses to close.
— With a file from The Canadian Press
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