STF president criticizes new rules around COVID isolation

Saskatchewan’s new rules on COVID-19 isolation are drawing criticism from the teachers’ union.

Starting Friday, close contacts will not need to isolate. Also, the isolation period for anyone unvaccinated who tests positive has been cut to five days.

Patrick Maze, the president of the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation, said the changes will likely lead to more of the virus in schools.

“If those people are potentially carrying COVID and (are) asymptomatic — so they’re just not aware that they should be isolating — and with parents not having to report positive tests anymore, then there’s the potential that children are still going to be in our schools who are positive, asymptomatic and spreading it,” he said.

Maze noted teachers and parents rely on information about close contacts to stay safe.

“We know that more information is better. Knowing that students who have tested positive have been in the building and students that are deemed close contacts, that’s important information for us to have …,” he said.

“Parents want to know in order to be able to make informed decisions about whether they should send their children to school or not, if it’s a safe learning environment.”

The changes, he believes, shouldn’t be coming now.

“It makes it more difficult for people to make safe choices in our schools,” Maze said.

When asked what isolation rules should look like, he said they should have stayed the same as they were, with close contacts isolating. He also criticized the Moe government’s handling of Omicron.

“This is just kind of a carrying on of the belief that Omicron is not serious. The problem is that our hospitalization rates are indicating a different story,” Maze said.

As of Thursday, there were 328 people with COVID in Saskatchewan’s hospitals. Of those, 148 were there because of the virus, 147 were there for another reason, and the other 33 have not yet been determined.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees also voiced its concerns about the move in a media release.

“(Premier Scott) Moe has stripped away the paltry protections that were in place in our schools. It is completely unacceptable and shows this government’s total lack of regard for students and staff,” Rob Westfield, chair of CUPE Saskatchewan’s education workers steering committee and a facility operator with Saskatoon Public Schools, said in the release.

“Many of our members work in close physical proximity with students – providing hands on support and guidance for students with complex needs. The mental toll of not knowing if you have been exposed to COVID is immeasurable.

“We all have loved ones who are at higher risk – whether it is small children who are not yet vaccinated, seniors or immunocompromised. We are drowning, and the government is leaving us adrift.”