Students heading back to school across Alberta will now be exempt from the two-metre physical distancing rule.
The province’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw signed off on an order over the weekend which states students will not be required to distance as long as their desks are as far apart as possible or those desks don’t face each other.
The order 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 a student, staff member or visitor is seated at a desk or table.”
The Alberta Teachers Association isn’t very happy with the last-minute change. ATA President Jason Schilling went to Twitter on Sunday to say he’s stunned by the reversal, saying “this goes against everything they’ve been told for months.”
Alberta students head back to school this week for the first time in more than five months.
