Whitehorse Daily Star

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Ted Hupé

Fully disclose any virus in schools – YTA

The president of the Yukon Teachers’ Association (YTA) says health officials should issue public exposure notifications when cases are discovered in schools.

By Gabrielle Plonka on November 27, 2020

The president of the Yukon Teachers’ Association (YTA) says health officials should issue public exposure notifications when cases are discovered in schools.

“We want solid information being shared, because there’s way too much gossip and speculation happening,” Ted Hupé told the Star this morning.

“I want solid information to be shared because I think our school communities deserve that.”

According to current protocols, the Yukon Communicable Disease Control Unit (YCDC) will not issue a public notification if a COVID-19 case is found at a school.

Direct contacts of the case will be notified and advised accordingly, according to the Yukon government.

Hupé told the Star he disagrees with that plan.

He is advocating for the Yukon to follow B.C.’s and Alberta’s lead and announce affected schools publicly.

That’s partially to alleviate gossip, and also because schools haven’t publicly verified that they’re following all safety procedures, Hupé said.

School health and safety committees are responsible for detailing those protocols – but those committees haven’t shared the information with the Education department nor YCDC.

“We don’t have enough of those meeting minutes to state what all the health and safety committees are actually doing,” Hupé said, adding that he knows the committees are meeting regularly.

Every school has submitted an operational plan dictating that classes should be isolated and implementing sanitization procedures.

“Right now, all those plans are in place, but I have no idea if that has been verified that schools are actually doing what they’re supposed to do,” Hupé said.

“That’s my concern – it’s not that they’re unsafe – I just can’t confirm that all those pieces to this big operation called Yukon Education has been done and the department can’t either, we don’t have that evidence.”

Without that verification, it may be challenging for YCDC to conduct effective contact tracing, Hupé said.

“Our plans are to keep classes in isolated cohorts, but we have kids playing on the playground together, we have kids interacting with other kids in school and in sports, we have intersecting bubbles,” Hupé said.

“We know that, but with these intersecting bubbles, the contact tracing gets very hard.”

The lack of verification may additionally hinder parents’ confidence in schools, the veteran school principal pointed out.

“Everyone needs to know, if a case happens, it will be dealt with in a way that everyone has confidence in,” Hupé said.

Without public information sharing, Hupé is concerned that rumours will overtake schools.

“We don’t want gossip to determine people’s day-to-day choices about whether they go to work or send their kids to school,” Hupé said.

The president said he’s been requesting evidence of safety procedures from schools for three months.

It’s the responsibility of school staff and administrators, who comprise safety committees, to release that information.

If school safety was verified, Hupé said, he would be less concerned about public exposure notifications for schools. He added that he understands the request puts extra pressure on school staff.

“I know everyone is busy; it’s so frenetic in schools right now,” Hupé said.

“If we’re going to make schools safe, and parents and teachers are going to feel confident, we all have to work harder.”

Hupé closed with encouragement to Yukoners on the new mandatory mask policy, which will kick in next Tuesday.

“I’m glad that piece of the puzzle is being put into effect, and I think we need to all do this for the sake of everyone,” Hupé said.

“To the anti-maskers out there: it’s about thinking of others and the whole health and safety apparatus.

“It’s about thinking about others, and putting that in front of our own situation....We all have to think about the greater good.”

See related story and editorial.

Comments (5)

Up 7 Down 15

Max Mack on Nov 29, 2020 at 11:16 am

Infants and school-aged children are almost completely impervious to the effects of this virus. The fatality rate from covid for these age groups is practically zero.
The children will be safe. Stop with the ridiculous arm-waving. Let the children mingle and develop natural herd immunity. I repeat - they are NOT at risk.
If you are an at risk teacher, then teach from home. Problem solved.

Up 11 Down 4

Wilf Carter on Nov 28, 2020 at 7:04 pm

Just talked to a family member that is a specialized process chemical engineering in development of drugs. But it all seems Ok and it will take a lot of time to get it right.
I wish I could say more but leave to Health Canada to do their job. One thing I did learn was if Health Canada says it is safe to take then it is because they are working very hard to help Canadians.
With the vaccine we can still get the CV19 virus but it will not be so bad.

Up 11 Down 7

SheepChaser on Nov 28, 2020 at 11:43 am

Schools are unlikely to reopen after the Christmas break. Hopefully, someone in the education ministry or YTA has realized that also and is building a robust online and distance learning program. I’m sure they are all over it...

Up 15 Down 14

JC on Nov 27, 2020 at 4:21 pm

Secrecy and stealth is the Marxist Socialist/Liberal; NDP way of governing. Control is their tactic and agenda. Let's get back to the way Canada was founded. Don't sell out our country citizens. We must fight for freedom and democracy for our children's sake. Our children are our future. Don't sell them out to Karl Marx.

Up 6 Down 13

Wilf Carter on Nov 27, 2020 at 3:56 pm

Wow great piece Star and very important points raised by teachers for safety of our kids in school.
Sandy you are a teacher why did you not see this?
Now we hear today vaccine will be available to Canadians in January 2021.
Who will get it first?
Ontario has stated today they will not get it until later in the year and their people continue to do die.
Western Canada does not expect it until late into the year.
Mr MP when can Yukoners expect the vaccine be available in Yukon and who will get it first?

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