Simcoe Muskoka top doc supports return to school as COVID-19 cases dip

The top doctor at the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit said he supports students returning to school at this time.

Students shifted from in-class to remote learning in April amid the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario.

“We believe that our rates are down sufficiently that we can follow up with cases and their contacts and would be able to do so for any exposures in schools,” Dr. Charles Gardner, the local health unit’s medical officer of health, said at a video press conference Wednesday.

“We noted that all the way throughout the pandemic, there’s been a very limited amount of transmission in schools.”

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Gardner said the exposures that have occurred in schools are cases that have occurred elsewhere in the community.

“The control measures that are in place in schools are effective,” Gardner added. “We would certainly require that they continue, but we feel ready.

“We feel that it’s important to have children to be able to return to school.”

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The top doc said the time left in the school year would be beneficial to children’s physical and mental well-being and education. He also said it would support families in allowing parents and guardians to perform essential work.

On Thursday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford issued a letter, asking for input from doctors and educators as to whether or not schools should reopen.

Ford’s letter comes two days after Ontario’s chief medical officer of health Dr. David Williams said he’d like to see students return to classrooms before the province starts reopening businesses in mid-June.

Ontario students have been participating in online learning since the April break, although Toronto, Peel and Guelph students moved to remote learning earlier.

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— With files from Global News’ Jessica Patton and the Canadian Press