Hello everyone,
We apologize for disrupting your holiday time. We have just received a communication from the Ministry of Education and felt it was important to share the following information.
- In light of the current Omicron variant, the Ministry of Education has been working with the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health on enhanced protective measures that could take effect January 2022, building on our measures currently in place.
- The Ministry of Education is allocating an additional supply of high-quality 3-layer cloth masks to school boards to enable a pro-active distribution of these masks to students. Once shipment arrives, supplies will be distributed to schools.
- The Ministry is now providing an option for staff to access non-fit-tested N95 masks. This will likely be communicated publicly in the coming days. These masks meet the same standards as fit-tested N95s but have not been, and are not required to be, fit-tested. Staff will have the option to wear either medical/surgical masks or non-fit-tested N95 masks provided by the government. The requirement for staff who perform aerosol generating medical procedures (AGMP) to wear a fitted N95 does not change. The DDSB is submitting an order for non-fit-tested N95 masks today. Once the masks arrive, they will be distributed to the system as quickly as possible.
Wishing everyone a happy holiday season.
Jim Markovski
