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Monday, August 31, 2020 Source name The Star (Toronto, ON) (web site) • 1049 words The Star (Toronto, ON) (web site) Source type Henry. Hinshaw. They've been Press • Online Press Periodicity heroes of COVID-19. But back-to- Continuously school anxiety is testing the Geographical coverage Regional public's faith Origin Toronto, Ontario, Canada Alex McKeen ICTORIA—Dr. Bonnie Hen- Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry speaks to students in an ad released by the ry stands in the teacher’s government of B.C. last week about back- V place at the front of a class- to-school safety. room, smiling at a class of children spaced apart. with their role advising and publicly In the advertisement, released by the supporting governments. government of British Columbia, the It speaks, perhaps, to the delicate bal- well-respected provincial health officer ancing act health officials face as they delivered her COVID-19 mantra — to seek to maintain crucial public trust and be calm, kind and safe — in preparation buy-in for the COVID-19 battle. for back-to-school, while listing some of the new safety measures schools will put There are few topics more difficult than in place. education. For some teachers, parents and ob- In Ontario, the four major teachers’ servers, the ad left a sour taste instead. unions have filed a labour board com- plaint, saying the province has not ad- “The (B.C. government) is capitalizing equately responded to their safety con- on the trust the public has in Dr. Henry cerns about class sizes and student co- in order to send a message about the horts. safety of going back-to-school,” Maya Goldenberg, a University of Guelph phi- And amid the fears being felt by ed- losophy professor who studies public ucators and parents alike, step the fig- trust, said of last week’s B.C. advertise- ures who have been the heroes of the ment. pandemic to many so far — the public health officers. “I think Dr. Henry might have over- Copyright 2020. Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. stepped when she agreed to be in a com- Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. The B.C. Teachers’ Federation said the Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited with- mercial.” ad featuring Henry showed an idealized out permission. All Rights Reserved. The present document and its usage are protected under interna- version of what a COVID-19 classroom tional copyright laws and conventions. As back-to-school draws near, Henry is would look like — with a sink for wash- Certificate issued on September 27, 2021 to Démo TK for not the only public health official com- personal and temporary display. ing hands and lots of space for distanc- ing under scrutiny for how well they news·20200831·TTAW·a88555e4-a8eb-4ce4-b182-4b375580fbca ing between desks — rather than the re- balance their air of scientific objectivity This document is destined for the exclusive use of the individual designated by Démo-–-TK and cannot be used for any other purpose or distributed to third parties. • All rights reserved • Service provided by CEDROM-SNi Inc. 1 ality for many classrooms. to contradict the advice given to the gen- lic health officials because they’ve done eral public — such as allowing students a great job. They’re showing up, they In a statement responding to the criti- in classrooms to sit closer than two me- communicate with the public really cism, the province’s Ministry of Educa- tres apart. well,” he said. “Depending on what kind tion said it wanted the ad to help re- of reactions students and parents voice assure families that B.C. is working to Jason Ellis, an education professor at the when they go to school, how satisfied keep kids safe in the fall. University of British Columbia, said they are with schools doing their job — what parents and students need is clear that may determine whether they contin- Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s public advice and information on returning to ue to trust teachers and public health of- health office, received criticism after is- school, and that public health officials ficials.” suing a public health order related to re- such as Henry and Hinshaw have done turn-to-school over the weekend, rather a good job of explaining why the stan- Goldenberg said maintenance of that than at her regular weekday updates on dards are different in school compared trust is crucial for public health officials COVID-19. to in public. to be able to communicate the messages they need to get across — and that will The president of the Alberta Teachers’ “We do all these things like physical dis- become only more important. Association took particular issue with tancing, hand washing, maintaining so- the part of the order that says students cial bubbles so that we can limit com- “Think about in a couple of years, when in classrooms do not necessarily have to munity spread and do things like reopen they’re trying to convince people to get be seated two metres apart from one an- schools,” Ellis said. “But it doesn’t a COVID vaccine,” she said. “If (dis- other, as they are expected to do out- mean that in the schools we have to ap- trust) becomes the takeaway message, side of school. Hinshaw clarified Mon- ply all those other (measures).” then public health is in trouble.” day that the distancing exception was not a new part of the province’s back- In other words, the aim in returning to Goldenberg said part of the difficulty of to-school plan, but said she would issue school for public health officials is not the present moment for public health of- official orders between Monday and only to reduce the COVID-19 risk as ficials is that they’re expected to com- Thursday, going forward, so the public much as possible, but to accept some municate objectively as scientists — knows what to expect from her, and risk of spread with the understanding while also serving government min- when. that school is too important to put on istries. hold any longer. Although anxiety has been in high sup- “The governments are supposed to re- ply throughout the past six months of In Quebec, where thousands of students spond to the science, the scientists,” she the coronavirus pandemic, it may be returned to class last week, the risk of said. “The worry is here is whether pub- peaking in Canada as provinces and ter- exposure to COVID-19 has already been lic health officials are overreaching in ritories prepare for the biggest test of re- on display. Dozens of teachers have some of the endorsements they’re giv- opening society in the age of COVID-19 been asked to quarantine after some in- ing.” so far. dividuals tested positive for the disease, and classes have been temporarily asked Alex McKeen is a Vancouver-based re- “This is the big one,” Goldenberg said, to stay home. porter covering transportation and “Opening up the schools is the biggest labour for the Star. Follow her on Twit- opening up we’ve done and, of course, it York University sociology professor ter: @alex_mckeen involves children and people across the Cary Wu said the way public health political spectrum.” leaders communicate about going back to school will serve as a fresh litmus test The provinces’ return-to-school plans for how trustworthy they are to many have come under particular criticism parents and teachers. from parents and teachers where the standards for physical distancing seem “In general, people in Canada trust pub- This document is destined for the exclusive use of the individual designated by Démo-–-TK and cannot be used for any other purpose or distributed to third parties. • All rights reserved • Service provided by CEDROM-SNi Inc. 2.

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