Niagara, Ont. students who are vaccinated won’t need to isolate if exposed to COVID-19 in class

Public health officials in California say an unvaccinated elementary school teacher who took off their mask to read to students ended up infecting more than half of them. (Narongchai Hlawprasert/Adobe Stock Photo/CNN)

Vaccinated students in Niagara, Ont. will no longer be told to isolate for seven days if there is a lab-confirmed case of COVID-19 in their class.

Instead, the isolation period will be restricted to unvaccinated students and staff—and will last for five days.

In an interview with NEWSTALK 610 CKTB, Niagara’s Acting Medical Officer of Health Dr. Mustafa Hirji said the new guidance is an update from “an earlier draft” following discussions with the region’s school boards.

“What we are going to be doing is that if there is a test confirmed case of COVID-19 in the class, we want to stop that transmission right in its tracks,” Hirji said. “And what we're going to do is we're going to have any unvaccinated students and staff have to be dismissed from that class for the next five days.”

“Vaccinated students will be able to remain in place.”

Students and staff who isolate will also need to show a negative rapid test prior to returning to school.

Last week, Hirji issued memos directing schools to monitor carbon dioxide levels in schools and to dismiss full cohorts after the discovery of a positive COVID-19 case, regardless of vaccination status. He also urged principals to report all detected cases of COVID-19, something the province is no longer requiring, and to require a medical exemption if students can’t wear masks.

The measures, which were considerably more stringent than in most other areas of the province, prompted Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore to write a letter expressing “concern” over the direction.

In the letter, Moore strongly urges Hirji to “reconsider” his approach “in alignment with provincial direction.”

“You are aware that Niagara is the only jurisdiction in Ontario or Canada to continue this practice in the face of the increased transmissibility of the Omicron variant and that the negative consequences of school dismissal and closure are significant to the mental, social and education wellbeing of children and youth,” Moore wrote regarding the seven-day isolation period.

Hirji says the decision to adjust his directive was not swayed by Moore’s letter, but rather concern over staffing at schools.

“It was definitely a discussion with the school boards,” Hirji told NEWSTALK 610 CKTB Monday. “They're of course very stretched right now in terms of their staffing and being able to do everything, and we came to this compromise that rather than seven days, we would do five days—but five days plus a test.”

All other measures remain the same, Hirji added.

With files from Chris Herhalt