Dr. Jennifer Russell, New Brunswick's chief medical officer of health, provides information on the return to school next month during a media briefing on August 20th. (GNB YouTube)
New Brunswick’s chief medical officer of health described the reopening of public schools closed since March as a test of our ability to live with the virus.
Dr. Jennifer Russell believes the province is ready to meet this challenge but it will require ongoing collaboration between schools, educators, support staff, parents and students.
“I understand that many people have many concerns about what is going to be happening in our schools and this is normal. Very normal,” Russell said.
Testing will be available for asymptomatic teachers and school staff who are concerned about exposure to the virus.
Russell said this method has been previously used earlier in the pandemic.
“We were testing long-haul truckers, we were testing pre-operative patients before surgery. These are steps we were taking along the way to make sure there weren’t cases we were missing,” Russell said.
Testing will be voluntary for teachers and school staff.
Russell said if normal means we must drop our guard and act as if COVID-19 in no longer a threat to us, “we are a long way from normal”.
“If you are tired of this virus and I am sure many of you are, remember that the virus is not tired. It is still out there and we must treat it with respect. We must go forward with caution and vigilance but, we must go forward,” Russell said.
Russell said normalizing the processes and approaches we will see unfold repeatedly over the next several months is what we need to get comfortable with.
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