Officials in Simcoe Muskoka are racing to ensure new protocols are in place in time as students return to school next week.
Some educators think more time is needed to better prepare schools as the Omicron variant runs rapidly throughout the province.
“How will we manage attendance both of staff and students along with the logistics for when masks come in?” said Joe Zerdin, Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board chair. “It’s a lot of unknown in a very short period of time for us to solve.”
Others expected more in terms of resources.
“[We need] more protection for schools, more screening and more testing to be done,” said Jen Hare, OSSTF District 17 Teachers’ Bargaining Unit president.
“And make sure that the schools are not contributing to the strain on the health care system that we are seeing.”
As of Friday in Ontario, publicly funded PCR tests are only available to those considered high-risk and symptomatic or at risk of severe illness from COVID-19.
Anyone with mild symptoms is being asked to avoid getting tested to relieve some of the pressure off testing centres.
“We were booking ahead seven and half days. That means 7,000 people who met the criteria before yesterday’s change had an appointment booked here at Sperling alone,” said Stella Johnson, RVH Emergency Department and COVID clinics operations director.
The clinic believes it can get back to same-day or next-day testing with fewer people eligible.
Workplaces may be leaning harder on rapid test kits, with fewer people being allowed to get tested at clinics.
Barrie’s Chamber of Commerce said there are hundreds of businesses already waiting for them.
“But the chamber’s out and we’re not expecting to see anything until the end of January, and I think that’s even stretching it,” said Paul Markle, Barrie Chamber of Commerce executive director.
While PCR testing will be made available to education staff, elementary and high school students, childcare facilities have been left off the list.
“We have been excluded as childcare,” said Kim Yeaman, Simcoe Childcare Services Children’s services director.
She said daycares anticipate problems if staff have to isolate for at least five days without access to a PCR test to clear them of COVID-19.
