Comments closedChildren are particularly susceptible to harm from air pollutants … They’re much more vulnerable to the health effects of poor indoor air quality because their bodies, brains and respiratory systems are still developing.
A panel of Alberta appeals court judges has dismissed an appeal by parents of five immunocompromised Alberta kids.
Lawyers for the families, known only by initials, had argued the children’s Charter rights were violated in 2022 when the province stopped masking requirements and barred school boards from enforcing their own masking mandates.
Comments closedQuebec appears to be winning its battle against the rising tide of measles after 45 cases were confirmed province-wide this year.
“We’ve had no locally transmitted measles cases since March 25, so that’s good news,” said Dr. Paul Le Guerrier, responsible for immunization for Montreal Public Health.
There are 17 patients with measles in Quebec currently, and the most recent case is somebody who was infected while abroad, he said.
Comments closedThe proportion of children infected with COVID-19 while riding a bus to a school in Germany was about four times higher than in peers who didn’t ride the bus, illustrating efficient transmission during multiple short rides on public transport, finds a study published this week in Emerging Infectious Diseases.
A team led by researchers from the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin and public health officials used surveillance data, lab analyses, case-patient and household interviews, a cohort study of all students in grades 1 to 4, and a cohort study of bus riders to investigate a 2021 COVID-19 outbreak that involved an infected bus driver and his passengers. The rides lasted 9 to 18 minutes, and multiple schools in a single district were involved.
Comments closedNew data shows Quebec with 21 measles cases as of Friday 2 p.m., including 15 in Montreal.
According to the CIUSSS de l’Est, health centres in the eastern part of the island have responded by reinstating mask mandates and launching a vaccination campaign in elementary schools.
Notre-Dame and Sainte-Justine Hospitals are also among those requiring patients to wear masks to stop the spread.
“I feel like it’s necessary, especially to protect those who are more vulnerable,” said Montrealer Selena Ringwald. “Masking really doesn’t bother me, even as someone who has breathing issues after having COVID.”
Comments closedAir sampling in Dane County schools is helping health officials track flu and COVID-19, similar to how wastewater is increasingly monitored around the country for the coronavirus to gauge activity as fewer people get tested for COVID-19.
Since the beginning of the school year, flu and COVID-19 data from 16 air monitors at 15 schools in or near the county has been reported on Public Health Madison and Dane County’s respiratory illness dashboard. The devices, roughly the size of microwave ovens, are placed in communal spaces such as cafeterias. They suck air, including airborne viruses, into spongy material that is analyzed for viral genetic material.
Comments closedAir sampling was as effective in monitoring COVID-19 and influenza A (IAV) activity as three other methods in a Wisconsin school district from September 2022 to January 2023, according to a study published today in JAMA Network Open.
Comments closedThe results are in: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency research testing of do-it-yourself ‘Corsi-Rosenthal Box’ indoor air filters shows they are 99% effective in removing airborne virus. The ‘Owl Force One’ device tested by the EPA was built by UConn Indoor Air Quality Initiative researchers with Middletown, Connecticut public school children.
Comments closedOn September 27, BC provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, and health minister, Adrian Dix, announced mandatory masking would be re-established in healthcare environments as COVID-19 cases are rising at a rapid rate. Starting October 3, masks became mandatory once again in healthcare settings.
Comments closedMore than two weeks into the school year, New Brunswick has released the school air quality test results from 2022-23.
Twenty-nine of the 35 public schools tested last winter had peak carbon dioxide levels above the Department of Education’s threshold of 1,500 parts per million (ppm), shown in results posted online and included at the end of this story.
A group of parents with kids in Ontario classrooms is calling on the province to take further action to improve air ventilation, filtration, and purification in its schools.
Comments closedAbsence rates at Calgary public schools have more than doubled after the first week of school, as concerns loom over respiratory illnesses this fall and hospitals deal with an E. coli outbreak.
Comments closedSeveral grassroots groups of parents, health-care workers and teachers have sprung up across Canada to lobby for safer schools, including improved air quality.
Comments closedCOVID-19 is still here, and classrooms still represent a place where infection can spread, but there are other ways to learn and engage with students.
Comments closedNew York State is sending masks and COVID-19 rapid tests to school districts that request them for the start of the 2023-24 school year.
Comments closedAs the school year begins, it is past time to talk about the threat that SARS-CoV-2, the highly transmissible airborne virus that causes COVID-19, poses to the health of students.
Not only can the disease cause acute illness in youth, it can also lead to debilitating lingering symptoms, known as long COVID.
Comments closed“Children are not going to wear masks unless there’s a mask mandate, because we saw how quickly kids stopped wearing masks when they didn’t have to. The peer pressure that affects children in school, it’s really extraordinary. We’re still going to need to make it a rule for children and young adults to wear masks in school.”
Comments closedDozens of studies have shown that not only do N95 masks work on an individual level, but they lower transmission when people actually follow guidelines. Even the strongest critics of mask policies are forced to admit that masks themselves are effective.
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