The latest guidance comes as cases in Ontario have been on the rise, and children under 12 aren’t eligible to be vaccinated.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Ontario students and school staff will have to isolate for 10 days if they are considered close contacts of someone who has COVID-19 – unless they are fully vaccinated and symptom-free.
The updated guidance document from the province, released on Wednesday, sets out testing and isolation rules for all Ontario residents and in school settings.
With students returning to classrooms in about four weeks, Alexandra Hilkene, a spokeswoman for Health Minister Christine Elliott, said the government was “taking a balanced and cautious approach in order to ensure schools remain open for in-person learning for the full school year.”
Ontario’s two million public-school students learned remotely more than children anywhere else in Canada this past school year. The latest guidance comes as cases in Ontario have been on the rise, and children under 12 aren’t eligible to be vaccinated.
Under the new rules, fully vaccinated residents who are in contact with a positive case are not required to isolate unless they develop symptoms or are directed to do so by public health.
Similarly, the school-specific document said fully immunized students or staff who are close contacts of a positive COVID-19 case are generally not required to isolate unless they have symptoms.
Returning to classrooms after a COVID-19 case depends on the vaccination status of students and staff. The document said that symptomatic vaccinated individuals who receive a negative COVID-19 test result can return to school if their symptoms improve over 24 hours, or after 48 hours if they had gastrointestinal symptoms.
However, unvaccinated contacts of a probable or positive case need to isolate for 10 days and the document recommended that they take a COVID-19 test seven days into their isolation period.
It is unclear how schools will determine how long staff and students need to isolate for if there is no requirement to provide proof of vaccination status.
Local public-health units may modify the provincial guidance based on their situations.
The province said that the chances of entire schools being dismissed would be rare in schools with high immunization coverage among students.
However, it does not make mention of the fact that children under 12 are not vaccinated. Public-health units could consider dismissing an entire school if it was necessary, the document said.
NDP education critic Marit Stiles said that the guidelines for schools won’t keep students and educators safe.
She said the guidance recognizes the effectiveness of vaccinations, but the government failed to make vaccines a requirement for teachers and education workers, or to lower class sizes.
“Without these crucial protections, we risk looking at another school year of outbreaks and disruptions,” Ms. Stiles said.
“Parents, students and education workers are eager for a return to in-person school without upheaval and disruption, and for kids to get back on track academically, socially and emotionally.”
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