With students set to return to school in a week’s time, Alberta Teachers’ Association President Jason Schilling is calling on the Minister of Education to take steps to ensure that students, teachers, staff and families will be safe.
Jason Schilling says ‘The Omicron variant of COVID-19 is a complete game changer. School communities expect that the mediocre measures that failed in Alberta’s fourth wave will be strengthened for the return to school next week. Omicron is highly contagious and we are likely to see a substantial number of people that will become sick or need to isolate. The minister needs to pay attention.”
On Tuesday, Dr. Deena Hinshaw reported over 1,400 new cases in the province and noted the rate of infection is much higher in Calgary than anywhere else in the province. Premier Kenney said the numbers here and around the world, illustrate how fast covid-19 is spreading.
Meantime NDP deputy leader Sarah Hoffman was not pleased with the premier’s update. In a statement, the NDP health critic noted the premier failed to provide a plan or modelling projections.
Hoffman says there is no clear indication of how overburdened the Alberta healthcare system is and how it will deal with a potential surge of the Omicron variant.
