Pulling the trigger

Yesterday, our local Medical Doctor of Heath, Dr. Wajid Ahmed pulled the trigger and shut down all of the schools around here.

Media Statement Regarding School Closures for Students Next Week https://t.co/hJElJvRoHE

— WEC Health Unit (@TheWECHU) December 10, 2020

It has been scary seeing the virus count reports, particularly in the past week where the numbers have been over 100. The absolute numbers aren’t as big as those being reported in other areas of the province but when you adjust for population size, it takes on great importance.

The area also was the home of the elementary school that had the large breakout of cases that similarly made the news recently. This shut down next week will tack on to the normal two week Christmas Break. I’m so hopeful that this will help bring the numbers down.

If nothing else, it should serve as a warning to those who are not taking the situation seriously that we need to follow the rules. This hits home, folks.

The local CTV news station publishes this map indicating the location of schools that have had reported cases.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1zZt9LQ2MI7eUrlG_XeIrOiAC_j0p8Bi0&ll=42.18852228867989%2C-82.78916359999998&z=11

This follows on the heels of an opportunity for the public school board to have all students wear masks at school. The opportunity was lost for technical reasons that the topic had already been discussed. More was revealed in this Twitter discussion.

For clarification – the majority of trustees actually supported my Motion for Reconsideration (5 out of 9) but it did not meet the two thirds threshold that it needed to pass (6 out of 9). https://t.co/1p7bqDgStm

— Sarah Cipkar (@CipkarSarah) December 10, 2020

How the trustees voted will certainly be an issue during the next elections.

I was proud of the actions from many of the educators last night asking students to come prepared to learn how their classes will operate online next week.

To the point, this article from the Globe and Mail doesn’t tell the complete scope of this school closure.

Windsor to shut all schools until new year due to coronavirus fears

The schools affected are more than simply those that are in the city of Windsor. There roughly the same number of schools in Essex County that form this area health unit. There are four publically funded school districts here:

• Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board
• Greater Essex County District School Board
• Conseil scolaire catholique Providence
• Conseil scolaire Viamonde

In addition, there a number of independent schools.

As I write this, it has just been announced that Windsor-Essex has just been moved to the Grey Lockdown level.

Since that typically means 28 days, it remains to be seen if schools remain closed to start 2021.