New Brunswick must temporarily reinstate COVID-19 measures in schools, including mandatory masks, until it can reconsider its decision to remove them, the provincial children’s and youth advocate recommended in a report released Friday.
The decision-making process itself was “wrong” and needs to be reconsidered, Kelly Lamrock said, refusing to make a recommendation on the measures themselves.
“We do not believe that in an accelerated three-week review, a lawyer can or should take on the role of the last arbitrator of public health records,” he wrote.
“What we can say is that children deserve a decision that explicitly takes into account their rights and needs, reports on each of them with clear and relevant factual findings from the right experts, and is communicated with clarity and accountability by someone responsible. for the results. “
Lamrock recommends that the government return to COVID’s mandate in schools by May 21, see if it will reduce the number of cases, and then work quickly to make a final decision that is “properly balanced, researched, communicated and implemented.”
WATCH Kelly Lamrock says public health has the tools to “go back and do it right”
Youth Advocate Insists on “Evidence-Based” Consideration of the Advantages and Disadvantages of Masks in Schools
New Brunswick child and youth advocate Kelly Lamrock says the province needs to reconsider lifting COVID-19 measures in schools. 1:57
The COVID-19 mandates in schools were abolished on March 14, the day students and teachers returned in the hours after the March holidays. All provincial restrictions on COVID-19 were lifted on the same day as the end of the emergency order.
Lamrock launched an investigation in late March after “several” citizens expressed concerns about the spread of COVID in schools.
In a scathing 23-page report to the Legislative Assembly on Friday, he said “each of the decision-makers said the other service was free to reconsider or change the decision”, but neither did the chief medical officer, Dr. Neither Jennifer Russell nor the Department of Health explained the evidence behind this.
“This public feeling of ambiguity and confusion was not in the best interests of the children.”
Lamrock also focused on the government’s “over-reliance” on other provinces, the “mismatch” between its advice that vaccines are more effective than masks, and the “factual evidence” that less than half of children attending school are vaccinated, and the lack of measurements to monitor the impact of the removal of restrictions.
“There are legitimate reasons to consider abolishing mask mandates,” he said. But public health needs to reconsider the decision with clear evidence of the factors to be weighed and a plan to monitor student safety and staff absences.
Lamrock, a lawyer and former education minister, also advised the Ministry of Education to be obliged to place students adversely affected by the easing of COVID-19 rules, and should instruct school districts to do so.
“The law is clear that a student with a need that cannot be met in the general learning environment must be provided with a safe place to study,” he said.
The education law, which requires students with special needs to be accommodated, includes an obligation to “provide students whose close family members may be at risk of serious complications from the virus,” according to the report.
Other recommendations
Among the other eight recommendations “aimed at improving the safety and quality” of the school environment for children:
- Public health, in consultation with the Ministry of Education, should clarify the health and learning indicators it monitors in order to assess the impact of removing the mask mandate and clearly develop what criteria will lead to a review of the decision.
- Health and education departments should coordinate and issue clear protocols to school leaders about when a student should test, report, or not attend school due to exposure, symptoms, or a positive test.
- Public health must take into account in its recommendations the long-term impact of COVID-19 on young people.
- Public health and education need to develop a strategy, “supported by regulation if necessary”, to increase the low vaccination rate for children aged 5 to 11
- Health and education departments should coordinate and issue a plan to make appropriate rapid tests available to schools
The government is not obliged to implement the recommendations.
The CBC requested a comment from Prime Minister Blaine Higgs’ office, but instead referred to a press conference held by Education Minister Dominic Cardi.
The Ministry of Health initially also redirected requests for comment to Cardi’s press conference.
Education is given to public health
Cardi told reporters he would continue to focus on public health.
“I will not be a minister who makes decisions based on media pressure, public pressure or random voices from the internet,” he said.
“I will follow the advice of the public health team, whose job is to advise the government on areas and issues related to public health.”
He was outspoken about COVID in schools at the start of the pandemic, he said, but the public health experience “far exceeds” his.
Education Minister Dominic Cardi and Health Chief Medical Officer Dr Jennifer Russell have the power to restore or remove COVID rules in schools, Lamrock said, but Cardi said he would continue to follow public health advice. “Doing something else would be dangerously irresponsible,” he said. (CBC)
Pressed further by his personal opinion, Cardi insisted that he was not “trying to avoid” the issue.
“As a minister, you lose the ability to simply express your own feelings on issues related to your file and the work of the provincial government,” he said. “I must have been in trouble because I stretched it a few times, but the goal is to try to have governments that speak with one voice.”
He is a member of the cabinet, the cabinet makes decisions by consensus and the decision is to accept the recommendations of the Public Health, he said.
Cardi added that the cabinet had presented evidence supporting public health recommendations, but declined to comment further, citing the cabinet’s confidence.
In his report, Lamrock said the chief medical officer for health was best placed to identify the risks and impacts of adopting various public health rules. The Ministry of Education is best placed to determine the impact of these restrictions on student learning and development.
“Once the impacts are known but need to be balanced against each other, the decision is as valuable as science, and this is where elected officials need to appeal and respond to the public.
It will take into account the recommendations
A subsequent joint written statement on behalf of Cardi and Health Minister Dorothy Shepard said their departments would “take into account” all recommendations from Lamrock and the chief auditor in a pending report on the pandemic province’s response. .
Both departments will continue to work with schools and districts to “provide a respectful and supportive learning environment for students and staff where they feel welcome to wear masks,” it said.
Overall, the province’s high vaccination rate for those most likely to be hospitalized, along with low levels of hospitalization among young people, contributed to the public health decision to remove mandates for masks for the public and schools, he added.
Later in the day, the Ministry of Health issued a written statement on behalf of Dr. Yves Leger, acting Chief Medical Officer.
Public Health and the Ministry of Education will review Lamrock’s recommendations and would like to thank him for his report, Leger said.
The health and education departments will “continue to work together to maintain and nurture the health of New Brunswick’s children.”
It can be upgraded to a systematic investigation
This is Lamrock’s first report as an independent observer. The former Liberal cabinet minister, who left the party to run for the NDP and later became an informal adviser to Higgs, was appointed by the government in December.
He does not plan to launch a full investigation into the removal of COVID rules in schools for several reasons, he said, including a lack of staff and that he is unlikely to make a recommendation before the end of the school year. “Most importantly,” he believes, his concerns about the process and the “completeness” of the decision can be addressed through follow-up recommendations.
However, he will use his judgment under the Children’s and Youth Advocates Act to put the matter under “ongoing review” and monitor his recommendations.
“We retain the jurisdiction to upgrade the matter to a systematic investigation if changes in facts or recommendations that we consider relevant are ignored,” he advised.
Although camouflage provides a layer of protection and public health supports their use, there is currently no evidence that it should become mandatory. – Prime Minister Blaine Higgs
Earlier this week, when asked about Lamrock’s review, the prime minister said the government would continue to follow public health advice, as during the pandemic.
“While camouflage provides a layer of protection and public health supports their use, there is currently no evidence that it should be mandatory when people are fined or unable to attend school because they do not wear one,” Higgs said in a statement. email.
“Learning to live with COVID-19 means empowering ourselves and each other to protect each other from infection.”
Masking can be reintroduced in schools quickly and could affect transmission rates within weeks, said Dr. Alana Newman, a St. John’s neonatologist. (Alexandre Silberman / CBC)
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