Parent group says province should do more to better air quality in schools

A group of parents with kids in Ontario classrooms is calling on the province to take further action to improve air ventilation, filtration, and purification in its schools.

Ontario School Safety is one of a number of grassroots groups across the province continuing to call on the Doug Ford government to improve air quality for all Ontario students.

“I had kept my children and my family safe from [COVID-19] for the better part of two years and I sent my kid back to in-person learning [last year] wearing a mask — and he lasted three days at school before he brought COVID home,” said Kate Laing the chair of Ontario School Safety.

Speaking on The Mike Farwell Show on Monday, Laing, who also resides in the Region of Waterloo, said it was frustrating to see all her family’s protections fall so fast.

“I was just really frustrated because it shouldn’t be this hard to keep your kids safe and healthy, and so I decided to get involved,” she said.

The province has taken a number of steps over the past number of years to improve air quality in its schools but Laing and Ontario School Safety maintain it’s still not enough.

According to them, there are a variety of ways in which more action could be taken to improve air ventilation, filtration, and purification.

Laing also said improving air quality is about more than just preventing the spread of COVID-19 but also other viruses and pollutants, like the flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and wildfire smoke.

Meantime, in the absence of further action on air quality, Laing suggested the province should instead consider reversing its position against reinstating mandatory masking policies.

“Nobody really loves masks, let’s be honest,” she said. “Even the COVID-cautious don’t love them but they’re sort of a necessary protection that can really work to keep us safe when the air quality is poor.”

“They can be a really good mitigation when layered with other protections, but of course we would love to make it so school buildings themselves had indoor air quality that was good enough that kind of intervention isn’t necessary.”