'It's not working': Renewed calls to change Omicron school strategy as more classes go online

A doctor, the NDP and Alberta's teachers association renewed concerns about COVID-19 in Alberta schools Tuesday as Omicron infection continued to send more staff and students home.

Since the return on Jan. 10, about 190 classes at schools in Edmonton and St. Albert have moved online.

"I think what this shows us is the government's version of living with COVID which essentially means ignoring COVID. It's not working," said pediatrician Dr. Tehseen Ladha.

She believes the anxiety about Omicron spreading in classrooms is doing more harm than good.

"The mental health impacts of not creating a safe space in schools, I would say, is as deleterious as having children move online, if not more so," Ladha argued.

As of Monday, nearly 10 per cent of students with Edmonton public schools were absent. Six per cent of those were due to COVID-19. On Tuesday, 565 teachers and 268 educational assistants were absent.

Edmonton Catholic Schools had 595 staff absent, 328 of which were teachers.

"There are things that can be done to help ease the stress on the system right now that also will set us up really well in case we see something else come down the pipe in a couple months," said Alberta Teachers' Association President Jason Schilling.

Rising numbers in schools has renewed calls for more action from the government.

"They’ve abdicated everything to school boards so some consistent policies would be nice," Schilling said.

Smaller class sizes, better ventilation, more teachers and contact tracing are among some of the things he wants to see in schools.

The NDP says the government has the money to do it.

"Last year the UCP actually underspent the education budget by $600 million. Think of what could have been done to promote learning and to increase safety with $600 million," Education Critic Sarah Hoffman said.

"The government said it was doing everything that they could to keep schools safe and open, and if there’s money left on the table that was not used to do that then I question the validity of those comments made by the premier and the minister," Schilling said.

Dr. Ladha also believes more needs to be done to increase vaccination rates in five to 11 year olds.

"Make access more equitable and increase the number of children that are vaccinated, because right now Alberta is well below the national average," she said.

A spokesperson from the Ministry of Education said it continues to work with school divisions and that more than 16 million medical grade masks will be distributed in February, on top of the 16 million sent this month.

Dr. Ladha said there is a risk, and not a small one, with in-person learning which is why vaccines and KN95 masks will go a long way to protect kids.

"We don’t know what the long-term effects of covid are on children. We've known about influenza for a long time but we don’t know what covid holds in store for our children," she said.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Amanda Anderson