Type of Intervention: Specific Action
Sectors Involved: Education
Intervention Categories: Social and physical distancing measures; Reopening schools
Level of Jurisdiction: Saskatchewan
Lead People/Agency: Government of Saskatchewan
Ministry of Education, Education Response Planning Team, Chief Medical Health Officer
Overview: The Government announced that Saskatchewan pre-kidergarten to Grade 12 schools will resume in-person learning for the 2020-2021 school year. The Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the Education Response Planning Team and the Chief Medical Health Officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab, will develop and distribute public health guidelines to school divisions. The Chief Medical Health Officer will continue to provide guidance and recommendations throughout the planning and implementation of school re-opening.
Full details here: https://www.saskatchewan.ca/government/news-and-media/2020/june/09/school-year
Other links: 1
Type of Justification: Advice of INTERNAL government advisory committee or group, Learning from other jurisdictions
Evidence/Justification: Saskatchewan’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab stated that they had been monitoring the reopening of schools in Australia, which had similar rates of COVID-19 to Saskatchewan, and that Australia had not seen “large-scale transmission in the school-setting.” He noted that Australia and Southeast Asia were able to reopen in a relatively normal manner alongside physical distancing measures. Dr. Shahab also noted that children don’t tend to get that sick with COVID-19 and don’t transmit it that well either.