Following the Vancouver School Board’s announcement of a mask mandate for students in Kindergarten to Grade 3, the Surrey School board has done the same.
On Wednesday afternoon (Sept. 29) the Surrey Board of Education met with Fraser Health's Medical Health Officer responsible for schools to discuss masking, vaccinations, exposure notifications and testing. There it was discussed that beginning Monday, Oct. 4 the district's current COVID-19 mask mandate will be expanded to include all students.
“Masks are an effective layer of protection, in concert with other measures, and we are pleased to be able to take these steps,” the board wrote in a recent statement.
The board will also be partnering with Fraser Health to host vaccine clinics in Surrey schools to increase vaccination rates in nearby communities. Take-home COVID-19 mouth rinse/gargle sample collection kits will be distributed to families with children who become symptomatic while at school.
Earlier this week the Vancouver School Board unanimously approved a similar mandate. Trustees reasoned the main reason the already existing PHO included students in Grades 4-12 and not Kindergarten to Grade 3 was the idea children that age couldn’t wear masks properly.
“I dispute that assertion,” Vancouver School Board trustee Barb Parrott. “Parents teach children that age to do lots of things including crossing the street safely. That age can be taught how to wear their mask safely and they are.”
Parrott added she looks forward to a vaccine for children aged 5-12 in the coming weeks as the number of children 10 and under catching the virus is “significantly increasing.”
Vancouver’s mask mandate expansion is expected to be implemented in the coming weeks.
