Toronto Public Health to dedicate team of 70 nurses to local schools for reopening

Thestar.com
August 18, 2020
Jennifer Pagliaro

Toronto Public Health will deploy a team of dozens of nurses responsible for both training and case management in Toronto schools when they reopen this September.

The new, dedicated team of more than 70 nurses follows a provincial announcement last month that it would spend $50 million to fund 500 additional school nurses, and direction from Ontario’s chief medical officer of health last week that recruitment could begin.

With schools scheduled to reopen the second week of September, health experts say it’s a matter of when, not if, a case of COVID-19 enters the school system and that it will be up to the school boards and Toronto Public Health to work to prevent spread of the virus.

The new TPH team will include some experienced nurses and newly recruited nurses who will be deployed in school locations providing education and training for staff, parents and students on infection prevention and control.

The teams will also help with “rapid-response” outbreak investigation, according to a press release on Monday, along with case management and assisting with planning for testing as needed.

Dr. Vinita Dubey, the city’s associate medical officer of health, said the new nurses will be added to current school health teams.

The new 70-person team, dedicated to COVID-19 prevention and education would be responsible for nearly 800 schools in the Toronto District School Board and Toronto Catholic District School Board, or about one nurse for every 11 schools.

“It’s an active file and we’re certainly trying to figure out what’s the best way to utilize these resources given the number of schools in the city,” Dubey said at a press conference Monday.

Mayor John Tory said they expected to redeploy current staff and recruit new staff as needed ahead of the September start date for classes.

“Our number one goal is to keep our children as safe as possible when they return to school,” he said. “The city, through Toronto Public Health, will provide as much support as possible to our schools because we know that a safe reopening of the schools is so important to the restart and recovery of the city and most importantly the overall well-being of our young people.”

The mayor also said multiple city divisions continue to work with both school boards to discuss their space requirements and sites the city could provide to help, while weighing other program needs -- like those in libraries and community centres.

While Toronto Public Health, academics, infectious disease specialists, hospital and parents have all called on the Ontario government to limit elementary class sizes, that part of the provincial plan has not been amended.

Tory also said the city is also confirming to school boards that all city parks are available to schools without a permit.