Photo: Government of Alberta

By Shaun Penner

Masks in School

Masks to be mandatory for school staff, Grades 4-12 students

Aug 4, 2020 | 9:18 AM

Students in Grades 4 to 12, as well as all school staff, will have to wear a mask when they return to the classroom in September.

The announcement came Tuesday morning from Education Minister Adriana LaGrange, who says evidence presented to the government suggests that wearing masks can play a significant role in helping limit the spread of COVID-19.

“Staff will be required to wear a mask in all settings where physical distancing cannot be maintained and students will be required to wear them in all shared and common areas, such as hallways, and on school buses.”

Masks for students in Grades K-3 will be optional, as LaGrange says mask use for young children can be a challenge.

Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, clarified that students in Grades 4-12 will have to wear masks outside of the classroom in shared and common areas, or in class when activities do not allow for proper physical distancing. When students are seated and properly distanced from others, masks will not be mandatory.

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Exemptions will be made for students and staff who are unable to wear a mask due to medical or similar reasons.

“After reviewing the emerging evidence, it is clear that masks can play an important role in limiting the spread of COVID-19,” said Hinshaw. “I am not making this updated recommendation lightly, but acting on the best current evidence available.

“While masks are important, I want to stress that they are only one of the many public health measures in place to limit the spread of COVID-19 and protect the health of students, staff and families.”

LaGrange adds that each student in Alberta, from Grades K-12, will be provided two reusuable masks by the government, which equals a total of more than 1.6 million masks to 740,000 students and 90,000 staff. Additional single-use masks will be available at schools, if required, the province says.

“This will ensure that students who are required to wear masks will have them, and will allow for our kindergarten to grade three students to have masks shoudl they wish to wear them.”

In addition, the province will be distributing about 466,000 litres of hand sanitizer between all school authorities in Alberta. How much each school board will get is based on student population.

Each school will also receive two contactless thermometers. The province says. thermometer use will be at the discretion of the school authority.