Declare your classroom's CO2 levels: A call for accuracy by Covid Ecoles Quebec
Teachers and staff in schools across Quebec are being encouraged to share their classrooms' CO2 readings on website Covid Écoles Québec, which was originally created to track the number of positive COVID-19 cases in schools.
Founder Olivier Drouin says he started the CO2 detector page for the same reason he began asking people to declare positive COVID-19 cases in their schools: data transparency.
"All data known to date that is used to determine action plans by schools and school boards are underestimating the number of classes with air quality issues, which is much bigger than the 10 per cent quoted by [Quebec Education] Minister [Jean-François] Roberge," he said. "In addition, the government did not commit to making the data available."
Last September, Quebec's education ministry said it would install 90,000 CO2 readers in elementary, high school, vocational and adult education classrooms across the province.
This came after the ministry issued a call for tenders over the summer, with the goal of being able to monitor indoor air quality through temperature and humidity.
"The government asked the service centers to make a daily average of the measurements taken by the readers," information of Covid Écoles Québec explains. "The measurement is done every five minutes during the day and every hour in the evening and at night."
However, Drouin states that according to these types of calculations, average CO2 levels will decrease because students aren't present in classrooms at night.
"It is therefore important to know the true measurements while the children are in class," he said.
Last week, the Quebec government confirmed that 68 per cent of its 90,000 CO2 readers were already installed in classrooms.
The promise had been to put a reader in each classroom of every school by the end of December 2021.
Covid Écoles Québec also created a page for people to declare a positive COVID-19 rapid test -- something the Quebec government has yet to build, causing inaccurate tallies of cases in the province every day.
"The government encourages citizens not to obtain a confirmatory PCR test following a positive rapid test result," the website notes. "This greatly underestimates the number of daily cases."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Police investigating shooting outside of Drake's Bridle Path mansion: source
Toronto police are investigating a shooting that took place outside of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion early Tuesday morning, a source tells CP24.
There's actually no such thing as vegetables. Here's why you should eat them anyway
The rumours are true: Vegetables aren't real — that is, in botany, anyway. While the term fruit is recognized botanically as anything that contains a seed or seeds, vegetable is actually a broad umbrella term.
'It looked so legit': Ontario man pays $7,700 for luxury villa found on Booking.com, but the listing was fake
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
The Met Gala was in full bloom with Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Mindy Kaling among the standout stars
The Met Gala and its fashionista A-listers on Monday included Jennifer Lopez, Zendaya and a parade of others in a swirl of flora and fauna looks on a green-tinged carpet lined by live foliage.
3 Indian nationals accused of murdering Hardeep Singh Nijjar facing court in B.C.
Three Indian nationals accused of murdering Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar are due to face court Tuesday over the killing that triggered a major diplomatic rift with India.
Israeli forces seize Rafah border crossing in Gaza, putting ceasefire talks on knife's edge
Israeli tanks seized control of Gaza's vital Rafah border crossing on Tuesday as Israel brushed off urgent warnings from close allies and moved into the southern city even as cease-fire negotiations with Hamas remained on a knife's edge.
Canadian cadets rock mullets and place second at U.S. military competition
Sporting mullets, Canadian Armed Forces officer cadets placed second in an annual military skills competition in the U.S.
Highlights from the 2024 Met Gala exhibit: Sleeping Beauty would wake up for these gowns
Sure, she was a royal princess and all. But there’s no way Sleeping Beauty — either before or after her nap — ever had quite the fabulous wardrobe that’s been assembled at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Noelia Voigt resigns as Miss USA, citing her mental health
Noelia Voigt, who was crowned Miss USA in November 2023, has announced she is resigning from her role, saying the decision is in the best interest of her mental health.