About 90 per cent of students, teachers and staff at schools on Montreal's West Island are still wearing their masks at all times, despite Quebec public health saying it is no longer necessary.
Back in March, officials took the first step towards ending the province's mandatory mask mandate, dictating that they will no longer be required in classrooms.
Masks are still required in common areas, as well as when students are in transit or are on school buses.
"With the lifting of almost all public health measures, schools are not necessarily the main source of transmission like in the earlier stages," said Darren Becker, a spokesperson for the Lester B. Pearson School Board (LBPSB). "Students are vaccinated and the vaccination rate of the general population is quite high in the West Island."
He explained that the school board has an absence reporting portal for parents and students to get real-time information on the current COVID-19 situation.
"That information is updated every day at 4 p.m.," he said. "From mid-March to Friday, overall cases have more than doubled among students."
However, Becker noted teacher and staff absences remain stable and "have not gone up."
He stated that for now, there is no risk of class or school closures, but the school board is monitoring the epidemiological situation closely as the province enters its sixth COVID-19 wave.
Becker said the school board does not intend to bring parents into schools to teach, an idea floated by the government earlier this year, if too many teachers were absent from classrooms.
"We have other solutions and contingency plans, but so far we're holding on. We're monitoring it closely enough to know it's gone up, but it's not at a critical stage for now," he said.
The Quebec government is slated to make an announcement about the future of the province's mask mandate on Tuesday.
