Ontario’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Kieran Moore has said that masks and other COVID-19 measures will likely remain in schools even after they are lifted for the rest of the province.
Moore made the comments on Thursday when announcing that Ontario would review restrictions in light of other provinces’ decision to lift them.
“We’re reviewing all public health measures and making recommendations to the government,” said Moore. “My initial feeling is that we keep measures in the school setting to ensure that parents have confidence, workers have confidence and students have confidence to go to school.”
“So I anticipate that the measures that we may remove at a societal level will remain in the school setting a bit longer to maintain that safety protocol.”
The province is currently examining when it could do away with masking and proof-of-vaccination, among other measures.
Despite experts’ warnings that masks are harmful to childhood development, Ontario students from Grades 1 to 12 are currently required to wear non-medical masks indoors at all times.
Canadians were outraged in October to find out that students at the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) were also being told not to speak during lunch breaks in order to stop the spread of COVID-19.
One parent, Teresa Ostrom, said she worried about her child’s ability to socialize as a result of the policy.
“I just felt so sad for the kids,” she said. “They’ve missed out on so much and especially so much unstructured socialization, which is what chatting with friends during lunch is, so it just seemed like one more thing taken away from them.”
The TDSB cited the advice of Toronto Public Health as the reason for the measure.
Kids have been one of the hardest-hit demographics when it comes to the consequences of COVID-19 measures.
Mental health issues have surged among youth over the past year. In Ontario, the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children reported a 35% increase in admissions for eating disorders among youths.
“COVID is a great amplifier,” said SickKids executive director Christina Bartha. “In pediatrics, the mental health and eating disorder rise in numbers is, to some degree, our pandemic. This has been very significant in terms of the number of kids presenting for care, and being able to attend to that has been really challenging.”
