Province mandates face masks for all school bus passengers By: Larry Kusch and Maggie Macintosh Posted: 5:43 PM CDT Tuesday, Sep. 1, 2020

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This article was published 01/09/2020 (1613 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With only a week left before the start of classes, Manitoba has amended its policy on mask use on school buses, now mandating even the youngest students wear face coverings to minimize spread of the novel coronavirus.

School divisions learned of the directive Tuesday, and immediately began the process of informing affected families.

The government announced the decision, without elaboration, in its daily COVID-19 bulletin. Officials will have more to say on the issue Wednesday, a provincial spokeswoman said.

Until now, health officials required students in Grade 4 and up wear masks while riding school buses. Younger children had been exempt.

Alan Campbell, president of the Manitoba School Boards Association, said school divisions weren’t totally caught off-guard, as a shift to mask-wearing for kindergarten students and older had been “on the table.”

“Everyone has been fully aware throughout this process — especially when it comes to things like mask-wearing and who’s going to wear masks and when they’re going to wear them — that public health is going to shift that guidance as required,” he said.

School divisions have been acquiring medical and non-medical masks on their own, as well as through the provincial government for weeks.

“This (the new policy) will certainly require an adjustment in ordering, and an adjustment in forecasting the replenishment of stock,” Campbell said.

Having younger children wear masks on school buses isn’t an issue for Winnipeg School Division, spokeswoman Radean Carter said.

“It’s just an added layer of protection on the buses,” she said Tuesday. “It might make it a little bit easier for where you can’t physical distance as far as you would normally want to.”

Between 1,900 and 2,000 students normally ride the school bus in the province’s largest school division in a normal year. This year, with physical-distancing requirements, it appears the WSD will only be able to transport about 750 students, including those requiring wheelchair access, which will be given priority.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees Manitoba — which represents approximately 5,500 support workers, including bus drivers — applauded the wider mask mandate. However, president Abe Araya questions why masks are not also being required in schools for all younger students.

The union penned a letter to the Manitoba education minister last week, with a list of recommendations to ensure staff return to safe workplaces.

Among their asks: staffing buses with at least one adult who can monitor mask and physical-distancing compliance; clear directions on protocol when a student exhibits COVID-19 symptoms before boarding a bus; and ensuring there are enough school buses and bus drivers where needed.

Also in favour of universal masks on school transportation is the union that represents nearly 100 bus drivers in the Winnipeg School Division.

“While we believe that mandatory masks for students of all ages is the right move, this won’t matter in the (WSD)… if bus drivers don’t get a fair deal before the Sept. 8 strike deadline,” Jeff Traeger, president of UFCW Local 832, said in a statement.

Traeger said bus drivers are meeting Wednesday to discuss the looming strike deadline.

Tuesday’s announcement was welcome among members of the Safe September MB campaign, a non-partisan collective of parents, teachers and community members pushing the province to create a remote learning option for all students this fall.

“We’re pleased with this decision, but we know physical distancing is the best way to keep our students safe,” said Lauren Hope, a Winnipeg mother, high school teacher and organizer with the collective.

Hope said parents want to see the province delay the start of the school year and both update and provide clearer instructions about remote learning so no one is forced to home school their children if they don’t feel comfortable sending them to class Sept. 8.

Brian O’Leary, superintendent at Seven Oaks School Division, said the school board is now trying to source smaller masks for the younger children.

“An 18-year-old in high school is going to need a different size than a four-year-old that is turning five and starting kindergarten,” he said.

O’Leary said there will be challenges in implementing the mask policy for younger as well as older students. If students don’t wear them properly, a lot of the effectiveness is lost, he said.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca