‘I’ve just gotten used to it’: COVID school protocols from the eyes of a Hamilton eighth grader

Most COVID-19 measures remain in place in Hamilton schools, and there are a lot of steps involved in a student's day.

I've just gotten used to it," said Sadie Neilans, 13.

A typical day for the Grade 8 student at Dundas Central Elementary School looks something like this:

At 6:30 a.m., Sadie wakes up and gets ready for school. Included in her morning routine is daily COVID self-screening.

I just go through them in my head," she said.

Hamilton schools announced earlier this month they were eliminating in-school validation of screening forms, which was typically done during attendance.

Sadie has to remember to pack extra masks, which she keeps in a pocket on the outside of her lunch bag.

Just after 8 a.m., Sadie walks to school with her friends. We're all vaccinated ... so we don't usually wear a mask," she said, adding that they put them on as they arrive at school.

When the bell rings at 8:40 a.m., lineups of masked students enter the building one row at a time. Rules are still in place, but Sadie said they have become more relaxed over time.

When we started doing school with COVID, everything was more ordered and structured," she said. Now it's a lot more like regular school, which I think is really good for the students."

What protocols are still in place at Hamilton schools?

Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, Hamilton's medical officer of health, said in an email measures in schools remain as important today as they did when students returned to in-person learning in September."

Masking, distancing, cohorting and daily self-screening remain in place.

The province, which has emphasized repeatedly its commitment to keeping schools open to students, announced Thursday it would provide take-home tests for students ahead of the winter break.

At the same time, the province announced high schools would ditch the controversial quadmester model, returning to regular semesters with four courses a day in February. Elementary schools will be restricted to classroom cohorts for lunches and breaks when indoors, which was already happening in Hamilton.

Earlier this month, Hamilton school boards eliminated validation of the screening form, meaning students now complete the self-screening on the honour system.

With COVID-19 cases and key trends remaining low in our community, City of Hamilton Public Health Services cautiously lifted the need for students to complete in-school validation of the results from the provincial screening tool," Richardson said.

In an email to The Spectator, Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board spokesperson Shawn McKillop said the board is now welcoming indoor spectators for championship sport events."

At the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board, secondary students from mixed cohorts are now allowed to eat together outdoors," spokesperson Marnie Jadon said in an email.

Are they effective in preventing transmission?

Though it appears protocols may be gradually lifting, for now most remain in place.

Dr. Martha Fulford, infectious disease specialist at McMaster Children's Hospital, said some protocols weren't recommended by experts, and are fabrication" on the part of school boards.

Hamilton school boards have imposed stricter measures - such as cohorting at recess and masking for kindergarteners - than what the province required.

We know unequivocally ... that the bulk of transmission of COVID in children doesn't actually occur in school, it occurs outside of school," she said, adding that COVID is less dangerous to kids than other viruses.

Experts The Spectator spoke with are divided on the efficacy and continued need for some preventive measures.

Fulford said screening form validation serves no purpose anymore."

A year and a half into this, I think everybody's well aware of what they're supposed to do and not supposed to do," she said.

But Juni said it seems odd" to stop enforcing it.

If you have a measure and you don't control it, it's challenging," he said. If we have the screening, it should also be checked."

Juni said while there's no conclusive evidence screening is effective, it probably plays a role" as it's specific to COVID-19 symptoms.

Fulford said at MacKids they're not seeing COVID cases in hospital, but are seeing a lot of other viruses."

At this point, the only message I would have given is, if a kid is sick, stay home,'" she said.

Both Fulford and Juni agree that outdoor measures, such as cohorting at recess, are unnecessary.

I couldn't care less about cohorting of kids outdoors ... because the risk is 20 times lower outdoors than indoors," he said.

Juni said masking indoors is important, even among cohorts who take their masks off to eat, because droplets produced by humans through coughing, sneezing, talking and breathing accumulate.

It matters how long the exposition and how intensity exposition is," he said.

How are measures affecting kids at school?

Fulford said it might be time to evaluate some of our school protocols, and weigh the benefits with the harm could pose on children.

Particularly (for) young children, socialization, facial recognition, lip movement, language acquisition really are impaired by masking," she said.

Sadie said generally she's used to learning in an environment where everyone is masked, but they can make French class more challenging.

Sometimes it's hard to tell what people are saying" she said.

Juni said it's really important to understand that this pandemic is not over."

The reason we're doing all of that is to try to minimize the damage in children by keeping schools open, but also to make sure that the pandemic doesn't get out of control," he said.

Kate McCullough is a Hamilton-based reporter covering education at The Spectator. Reach her via email: kmccullough@thespec.com