Education ministry says 90,000 CO2 readers to be installed in classrooms across Quebec
Classrooms throughout Quebec will be equipped with 90,000 carbon dioxide readers by the end of the year even though thousands of students have already returned to school.
The ministry of education stated in a press release Friday that the detectors are expected to be installed by the end of December 2021 in all kindergarten, elementary, high school, vocational and adult education classrooms.
CO2 readers are viewed to be a good indicator of indoor air quality. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, poor indoor air quality means virus droplets are more likely to be transmissible from person to person.
Back in July, the ministry issued a call for tenders to supply classrooms across the province with the readers with the goal of installing all of them by the end of June 2022.
The announcement on Friday means the readers, which will also be able to monitor temperature and relative humidity, will be installed six months earlier than expected, but still too late for the start of the 2021 school season.
The press release said the call for tenders was a “thorough and rigorous” process and the installation will be lead by Ali Bahloul, “a specialist in industrial ventilation and indoor air quality, and an associate professor” and researcher in the prevention of chemical, biological, mechanical and physical risks at the Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail.
Already, less than two weeks into the back-to-school season, more than 600 Quebec schools have reported cases of COVID-19, which is well over twice as many as this time last year.
Total cases in the province among kids under 10 are also soaring way above the levels from last September and the numbers are being attributed to the more transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus.
While the numbers of cases in schools has risen significantly compared to last year, the sharp increase in pediatric cases hasn’t led to horror stories of severely sick kids.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.