By CHAT News Today

Classroom settings

School physical-distancing rule dropped in weekend health order

Aug 31, 2020 | 11:33 AM

The president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association says the province has reversed a significant part of its school re-entry protocol.

Jason Schilling says a health order signed on the weekend by Alberta’s chief medical officer of health that lifts a mandate requiring physical distancing in classrooms when students return to school contradicts what the province has been saying for months.

The order from Dr. Deena Hinshaw states “an operator of a school does not need to ensure that students, staff members and visitors are able to maintain a minimum of two metres distance from every other person when students, staff or students are seated at a desk or table.”

The decision applies to classrooms and other instructional settings where seats are arranged so that students aren’t facing one another and there is the greatest possible distance between seated persons.

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In a Twitter thread Monday morning, Hinshaw says “nothing has changed since mandatory masking was announced on August 4.”

Hinshaw intends to address the change during her availability at 3:30 p.m. Monday.