Masks to remain a 'personal choice' despite rising illness in Alta. schools: premier

LaGrange says health decisions up to school boards As absence rates climb in Edmonton, the education minister says the province has returned to pre-pandemic protocols.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says masks will not be made mandatory in classrooms this year, despite schools dealing with "three surges" of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), COVID-19 and influenza.

"Anyone who feels comfortable to wear a mask should wear a mask," Smith said, speaking at a Monday news conference. "That should be a personal choice, and anyone who wants to make that choice, I support them."

She added: "We've heard loud and clear from parents that they want a normal school environment for their kids, and we are going to let kids be kids."

The premier said she is focused on doing what she can to help secure more supply of children's cold and flu medication and ensure hospital capacity can meet demand.

"I think those are the two things they are looking for me to do."

ILLNESS IN SCHOOLS

Last Thursday, Edmonton Public Schools reported a 13.72 per cent student absentee rate, or more than 14,400 students. An outbreak had been declared in 168 schools.

Of those schools, 34 indicated more than 20 per cent of their students were absent due to illness and 43 reported a confirmed, likely, or close contact of a COVID-19 case.

Edmonton Catholic officials confirmed 15 per cent, or about 6,900 students, were absent due to illness on Monday.

Smith says that after the COVID-19 pandemic, parents have become more aware of the need to keep sick kids at home to prevent the spread of viruses, explaining the high student absentee rates.

"I congratulate parents for taking that advice seriously," Smith said. "I think we still have a few difficult months to get through respiratory virus season."

Education Minister Adriana LaGrange said she instructed school boards to revert back to pre-pandemic reporting for outbreaks as the province shifts to an endemic approach to respiratory illnesses.

No school authority in the province has requested a mask mandate to date, LaGrange told media.

"I don't want us to get into a situation where we think that the kind of extreme measures taken during COVID are going to become the normal," Smith said.

"We've had two-and-a-half years of school disruption and we want to make sure that we don't have any additional disruptions."

CHANGES TO HEALTH LEADERSHIP

After Smith's news conference, her government announced an interim chief medical officer of health, Dr. Mark Joffe, would replace Dr. Deena Hinshaw immediately.

The move was expected; in October, on her first day as premier, Smith said Dr. Hinshaw would eventually be replaced by a team of public health advisors.

At the news conference on Monday, Smith signalled the changes were coming very soon.

When asked by CTV News Edmonton if the chief medical officer of health would be providing any updates to parents, Smith said Albertans would hear from the top doctor "in a number of days."

"We will be making an announcement in that regard in the coming days," Smith told reporters. "We will make sure that the advice that school boards and parents need to receive will be received by the chief medical officer of health."

In a follow-up question confirming if that would be Dr. Hinshaw, Smith simply re-stated: "We will be hearing from the chief medical officer of health."

Within hours, Alberta Health had announced the interim chief medical officer of health.

"Significant reforms" are coming to Alberta Health Services this week, too, Smith said.

"That's really important because if parents don't have the drugs that they need to be able to treat fever at home, then they're going to hospital waiting rooms and the hospital waits are unacceptably long," Smith said.

The changes will be focused on increasing the efficiency of emergency rooms, Smith says.

She said she has been receiving advice on health policy from a panel of doctors, and will be announcing a doctor's advisory committee soon.

"I have a doctor's advisory committee that is talking to lots of doctors, consulting widely and they'll be the ones that are advising me," Smith said.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Kyra Markov