Saturday will mark three years since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization.
Dr. Alex Summers, medical officer of health for the Middlesex London Health Unit (MLHU), said that these past couple of years “feel like they’ve gone by in a snap of a finger in one way and an entire lifetime in another.”
But as a community, Summer’s said that “we’ve learned just how quickly things can change when a new public health threat like COVID-19 emerges.”
“I think we will reflect on the massive impacts it had on our day-in and day-out lives,” he said. “But I also think we’ll reflect on the way that we came together for over 90 per cent of us to get vaccinated with two doses of the COVID vaccine and the way in which we kept the distance when we needed to keep the distance in the way that we could actually unite as a community.”
According to the most recent data from WHO, there have been more than 759 million cases of COVID-19 and more than 6.8 million deaths reported globally. The latest data from Public Health Ontario indicates there have been more than 1.5 million reported cases in the province and more than 16,000 related deaths.
Locally, and according to the most recent data from the MLHU COVID-19 dashboard update, about 48,725 cases have been reported in London and Middlesex County, as well as 527 related deaths.
Since the Health Unit first began administering COVID-19 vaccines in late December 2020, almost 94 per cent of residents 12 and older have received at least one dose of a vaccine, and more than 1.35 million doses administered at the health unit’s mass vaccination sites.
“In the big scheme of things, we’ve learned so much. And we’ve learned that we need to continue to be prepared,” Summers added.
On Tuesday, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health released his annual report, highlighting how critical it is for the province to continue investing in public health preparedness including in workforce, testing, surveillance and addressing socioeconomic inequities ahead of future pandemics.
Dr. Kieran Moore said that while people may not want to hear about another pandemic right now, it is important in the long term.
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But in talking about the effects of the most recent global pandemic, unexpected changes brought new formats in the way education was delivered as students began learning from home on March 13, 2020.
Schools in Ontario were closed for a total of 20 weeks during the pandemic.
In 2023, with the seemingly constant wave of expanding restrictions, many are wondering how far the pandemic has set kids behind academically.
Sarah Langelaan, owner of tutoring service Oxford Learning North London, says the business is seeing a large increase in parents reaching out for learning assistance for their children, “particularly for kids who are struggling with reading.”
Langelaan said she is not surprised. “We’ve definitely seen a massive increase in the number of kids who cannot read, especially the ones who went through those formative reading years during COVID, like Grades 1 to 3.”
Kala Challis, a tutor at Oxford Learning North London, said that “on average, kids are about two years behind.”
“They’re definitely struggling with reading, (but) some of our kids don’t even know their alphabet and their alphabet sounds, and they’re struggling as writing a sentence,” she said.
Langelaan added that when it comes to virtual learning, ”there’s not a lot of writing happening” for students.
“We’re just seeing a lot of kids who are having difficulty putting pen to paper,” she said.
Last fall, the Ford government announced that parents in Ontario were set to receive “Catch Up Payments” of $200 or $250 as part of their plan to help support students through learning disruptions caused by the pandemic.
The government said that the initiative was committing $365 million in direct financial relief for parents to “offset costs as they support their children as they catch up” and that the payments would be used for “additional tutoring supports, supplies or equipment that enhance student learning.”
The Ministry of Education said it will also be providing “early reading enhancements” which includes spending $25 million on “evidence-based reading intervention programs and professional assessments.”
The announcement came days after news broke that the majority of Grade 6 students in Ontario failed the province’s standardized 2021-2022 math test.
In regards to available support programs for students, Langelaan said that while there are services provided through local school boards and now additional options through government funding, “a lot of those programs are just completely overbooked.”
“There’s not a lot of room for every kid that needs help,” she stressed.
However, Langelaan said that the Oxford Learning Centre London wasn’t “lucky enough” to get funding from the Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB) as well as the London District Catholic School Board (LDCSB), so it’s seeing a “certain demographic” walk through their doors.
“We’re seeing lots of lawyers, professors, and honestly, a lot of teachers who bring their own kids in,” Langelaan said. “To that point, I own a couple of centres outside of London, and we were able to partner with the Simcoe school board and help a lot of lower-income kids. I just wish that London had also gotten on board for that.”
“You have these kids on the sideline who can’t afford it (tutoring), who are falling further and further behind, and the system just keeps pushing them through. So, I am quite concerned about our youth going forward,” she said.
But aside from the academic challenges some students now face, Challis highlighted some social challenges she’s noticed in the younger generation.
“There’s quite a number of behavioural issues,” she said. “They just don’t know how to interact with adults or authority figures, I’d say, and even just interacting with their peers, they’re just very socially behind.”
Langelaan agreed, adding that she believes this is also directly related to the effects of the pandemic.
“I think it has been exacerbated by some of the school systems,” she said. “Let’s face it, teachers are extremely busy. Their mandates are huge, like the things that they’re trying to teach in the classroom. I think they have too much on their plates and kids fall in between the cracks.”
However, last May, the Thames Valley District School Board reported an all-time high graduation rate of 84 per cent for the graduating class of 2021, a five per cent increase in the last five years.
But Challis stressed the frustration she’s even noticed from students who “continue to struggle in the classroom.”
“It really has an impact on their confidence, and when they’re not confident, they’re just shutting down and refusing to even attempt to do the work,” she said. “It’s just about helping to build their confidence and their skills so they know that they can participate.”
Applications for Catch Up Payments remain open until March 31.
The government said it is also extending its $175 million tutoring support program in continuing to “modernize the province’s curriculum and offer attendance support for struggling students.”
— with files from Global News’ Hannah Jackson and Devon Peacock.
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