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Teachers should be required to wear masks if unvaccinated, B.C. disease expert says

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Amid growing concerns about sending unvaccinated children back to school, one B.C. expert argues there should be consequences for teachers who refuse to get immunized.

The spread of the highly contagious Delta variant has created anxiety around the coming school year, and prompted teachers to call for another mask mandate and better ventilation in classrooms.

"What we're seeing in other jurisdictions is children getting sicker, so we think there should be a mask mandate across the board," said Teri Mooring, president of the B.C. Teachers' Federation.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has said the government is still working on plans for September, and will be sharing more information in the coming weeks.

Dr. Brian Conway, medical director of the Vancouver Infectious Disease Centre, told CTV News that a mask requirement would certainly make sense for teachers who can't – or won't – get vaccinated against COVID-19.

"Children will only get infected if they are around people who are infected themselves," Conway said Wednesday.

"The best protection a person can have for not being infected, and the best protection they can afford the children that are around them, is to get vaccinated."

Conway believes school environments were "among the safest in the province" last year, even without vaccines. Part of the reason is that administrators know who comes and goes, making contact-tracing quick and effective.

But the Delta variant has created more concern for this fall, particularly because children under the age of 12 remain ineligible for vaccine. Even the Canadian Medical Association is advocating for smaller class sizes, improved ventilation and masking to minimize the number of students getting sick.

Dr. Katharine Smart, incoming president of the CMA, said if the Delta variant gets into a school there's a risk of "a lot of children" getting infected.

"That's a big, big concern, and it's not only the short term effects of COVID, it's also the longer-term impacts – things like long COVID, things like multi-system inflammatory disease," Smart said. "That's not something to ignore."

The B.C. Teachers' Federation is pushing the province to ensure schools are safe this semester, with a rally planned for this weekend to highlight educators' concerns about returning to work.

Mooring noted that many students between the ages of 12 and 19 who are eligible for vaccine are still unvaccinated, or only partly vaccinated. As of the latest data provided by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control on Wednesday, fewer than 40 per cent of B.C. residents in that age group have received both doses of vaccine.

"We think we should be erring on the side of caution and ensuring students and staff are wearing masks," she said, adding that teachers are already embracing the vaccine "at a very high rate."

Some U.S. states such as Louisiana have seen a growing number of children getting sick from the Delta variant in recent weeks, though Conway cautioned against comparing those jurisdictions with B.C.

"In Canada, within the next two weeks, 80 per cent of the eligible population age 12 and older will be fully vaccinated, whereas in the United States it's barely at 50 per cent fully vaccinated," he said.

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