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UPDATE: Surrey school board mandates masks for all grades

Trustees, district staff met with Fraser Health Wednesday to discuss COVID-19 protocols, concerns
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A student works in a science class at L.A. Matheson Secondary on Friday, March 12, 2021. (Photo: Lauren Collins)

The Surrey Board of Education has mandated masks for all grades, with the new rule coming into effect next week.

The board and district staff met with a medical health officer from Fraser Health Wednesday (Sept. 29) to discuss COVID-19 protocols and concerns.

Following the meeting, the district announced it would be extending the mask mandate for students in kindergarten to Grade 3.

The new requirement will begin Monday, Oct. 4.

This follows the Vancouver School Board voting in favour to make masks mandatory for students in kindergarten to Grade 3 earlier this week.

READ ALSO: Vancouver school board mandates masks for K-3 students, citing uptick in COVID among kids, Sept. 28, 2021

Two weeks before the school year on Aug. 24, Education Minister Jennifer Whiteside and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced masks for staff and students in grades 4 to 12 while masks were only encouraged for kindergarten to Grade 3.

However, in a change from the 2020-21 school year, school districts would be able to implement further regional and local measures.

READ ALSO: Masks required for Grade 4 and older in B.C. as part of return-to-school plan, Aug. 24, 2021

In a post on the district’s website on Wednesday (Sept. 29), it says the board is meeting with the health authority’s medical health officer for schools to discuss the increase in COVID-19 cases in young children and to determine how the board and Fraser Health can “work together to ensure all measures and layers of protection are in place in our schools and that school communities are fully informed and protected.”

On Tuesday (Sept. 28), Henry said said the rate of cases per 100,000 people is “going up quite dramatically, particularly in those younger school-aged children who are not yet eligible for vaccination.”

READ ALSO: Fraser Health says data review shows ‘limited’ COVID-19 transmission in Surrey schools, Aug. 25, 2021

Testing, Henry said, has also seen a “dramatic increase.” But she noted that was “something we expected” as school started up again.

“We’ve gone up from about 100 children a day being tested across the age groups to over 500 children a day being tested for COVID-19.”

Meantime, the Surrey Board of Education Chair Laurie Larsen said the district needs to “ensure that all layers of protection available are being used and that our community is adequately informed.”

READ ALSO: Parents, teachers rally for COVID-safe schools at Surrey park ahead of school year, Aug. 28, 2021

She said the district has schools with multiple cases and multiple classes in isolation.

“We will share our concerns about notifying communities of cases and to hear how public health can support boards of education to address concerns about COVID-19 in our school communities.”

According to the district, the meeting will include discussions around mandating all layers of protection, such as why masks are not yet mandated for kindergarten to Grade 3; public notification of cases, clusters and outbreaks; increasing vaccination rates through vaccine clinics in schools; and making the school communities aware of how they can access testing, including the rinse/gargle test kits that are available in Surrey schools.

READ ALSO: COVID-19 mouth rinse/gargle sample collection kits coming to Surrey schools, May 6, 2021



lauren.collins@surreynowleader.com

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Lauren Collins

About the Author: Lauren Collins

I'm a provincial reporter for Black Press Media's national team, after my journalism career took me across B.C. since I was 19 years old.
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