Teachers' union urging Quebec to install air purifiers in poorly ventilated classrooms
Quebec's major teachers union federation (FAE) is urging the government to install air purifiers in all classrooms where ventilation is deemed inadequate.
As the Omicron variant wave sweeps the province, "air quality should be at the heart of the strategy to combat COVID-19 in schools," the FAE said in a news release.
The majority of primary and secondary students are expected to return to face-to-face classes on Jan. 17.
But some, including those in specialized classes for students with disabilities, returned to school as early as Jan. 3.
Often, these are school populations that are "heavily handicapped and for whom compliance with rules related to, among other things, the wearing of procedural masks and physical distancing is particularly difficult, if not impossible," the release said.
In Montreal's school services centre alone, "since January 3, 16 of the 24 classes have been closed because of outbreaks," said FAE president Sylvain Mallette in a telephone interview.
While the settings in question come with unique issues, he said the numbers are a taste of the problems that could be found in many classrooms.
"Teachers feel that not all safety measures are in place," he said, calling for teachers to have access to N95 masks.
The ventilation issue is not new.
Last April, the Legault government revealed that just over half of the 15,000 classrooms tested had satisfactory ventilation.
About 1,000 other classrooms were removed from the calculation because of faulty or missing measurements, after a Radio-Canada investigation revealed that the testing protocol was not followed in the majority of cases studied, distorting the results. The investigation led the FAE to be suspicious of the department's data for the remaining 15,000 classrooms.
The government promised that CO2 readers, which measure air quality, would be installed in all classrooms before the start of the school year. This deadline was then pushed back to the fall and then to mid-December.
"Today, thousands of teachers and hundreds of thousands of students in Quebec are paying the price for the government's erratic management of ventilation and air quality," said Mallette.
-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Jan. 11, 2022.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Ontario Provincial Police arrest 64 suspects in child sexual exploitation investigation
Ontario Provincial Police say 64 suspects are facing a combined 348 charges in connection with a series of child sexual exploitation investigations that spanned the province.
AstraZeneca says it will withdraw COVID-19 vaccine globally as demand dips
AstraZeneca said on Tuesday it had initiated the worldwide withdrawal of its COVID-19 vaccine due to a 'surplus of available updated vaccines' since the pandemic.
'Summer of discontent': Federal unions vow to fight new 3-day a week office mandate
Federal unions are launching legal challenges and encouraging public sector workers to file "tens of thousands" of grievances over the new mandate requiring federal workers to return to the office at least three days a week in the fall.
Toronto police seek suspect vehicle after security guard shot outside Drake's mansion
Toronto police are seeking help from the public as they continue to investigate a shooting that seriously injured a security guard outside rapper Drake's mansion.
'Ozempic babies': Reports of surprise pregnancies raise new questions about weight loss drugs
Numerous women have shared stories of 'Ozempic babies' on social media. But the joy some experience in discovering pregnancies may come with anxiety about the unknowns.
OPINION What King Charles' schedule being too 'full' to accommodate son suggests
Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, has made headlines with his recent arrival in the U.K., this time to celebrate all things Invictus. But upon the prince landing in the U.K., we have already had confirmation that King Charles III won't have time to see his youngest son during his brief visit.
Seafood, eat food: Calgary Stampede releases Midway menu
The Calgary Stampede has released its menu of sweet, salty and spicy treats available on the Midway for the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth.
Boy Scouts of America is rebranding. Here's why they've changed their name
After more than a century, Boy Scouts of America is rebranding as Scouting America, another major shakeup for an organization that once proudly resisted change.
These snakes not only fake their own deaths, they use gory special effects to do it
Awards season may be over for human actors this year, but there’s no rest for some of nature’s most audacious thespians.