First we’re told schools are safe. Then we are told that kids jostling into schools pose a risk. There is an erosion of trust for families & educators. Now Ontario plans to reopen, April 19, irrespective of #COVID19. Are we led by health policy or rotten politics?

I lay awake for several nights last week, worrying about whether I should pull my child out of school.
It was a decision I made as a parent and a partner, as we knew #COVID19 would soar (even if public health said it wasn’t out of control, exponential increase is not safe). 2/

Even though I trained as an anthropologist before medicine–an area of study all about critical analysis of our healthcare system and institutions–prior to the #COVID19 pandemic, I never thought about how health politics would play out in our children’s classrooms. This is how. 3/

The school year ended abruptly, in March 2020, and everyone had to struggle with the transition to online learning. Like many others, I asserted, “I will not get my hair cut, or go to a bar or gym, until it is safe for our children to be in school.” Take care of kids, we said. 4/

We were vocal about the systemic inequalities the pandemic continues to highlight. We saw privileged people form private “pods” for learning. Meanwhile essential workers and those in precarious employment or with financial instability didn’t have the luxury of a “choice.” 5/

We gasped at the blatant gender imbalance represented by the disproportionate number of mothers who left the workforce to educate their children at home during the #COVID19 pandemic. As feminists, we shook our heads. Ontario didn’t care about the uneven toll on women. 6/

Those of us who registered our kids for in-class learning in September 2020, did so with the faith that public health wouldn’t allow it if it weren’t safe. But then the erosion of trust set in, as we watched families get sick, educators get sick, and @Sflecce turned away. 7/

I spent hours counselling my patients who have children with learning disabilities and ADHD, who needed school as respite from their children. Worried about the kids who needed school as respite from home. I put teachers, parents, and kids on stress leave during #COVID19. 8/

After witnessing the stress and disruption of #COVID19 school closures in January, public health officials asserted that schools shouldn’t have closed. The caveat, however, was that everything else should have closed first (then, only as a last resort, would schools close). 9/

It’s no surprise that we are where we are. So much confusion & frustration created by our province as it threw open the doors to shopping malls & indoor dining, despite rising number of schools with active cases of #COVID19, and a teacher in Toronto who died. 10/

Here we are, now, in April, and the 3rd wave of #COVID19 is a tsunami with these variants of concern. There’s a disconnect between the public health messages, telling us isolate if anyone has any symptoms, and the lack of political will to support families, #PaidSickDays 11/

How do we make sense of it all? How can parents believe that classrooms are “safe,” when the same politicians are telling us they are doing “everything” (and we know they are not)? Class sizes never dropped as low as we were told they should, ventilation wasn’t improved. 12/

I thought about what I was willing to risk. As #COVID19 cases doubled and tripled in Ottawa, I pulled my child out of school. It isn’t what should happen. It isn’t equitable. It’s a privilege to make that choice for my child, while others have no options before them. 13/

It isn’t right that teachers can’t make that choice for themselves, for their own safety. And it isn’t clear that we can trust the “system” to ensure anyone’s safety. Where’s the evidence that Ontario cares about women and children, or seniors, or essential workers? 14/

The system is broken. If we had universal #PaidSickDays, nobody would have to lay awake at night worrying about whether they can afford to stay home (or keep their kids home) while sick. But Ontario won’t do that, won’t invest in preventative measures. Always only reactive. 15/

If we truly had all-hands-on-deck with primary care, I’d be heading out as a family doc to immunize all the educators in the three schools within walking distance of my office. But only a handful of us have the option to offer #CovidVaccine to our patients. Health politics. 16/

I’m certain I’m not alone in feeling burned out by the uncertainty about whether our health & education systems are led by solid policy or rotten politics. I don’t have the answer to that as a family doc. As a mum, I’m not willing to risk my family’s health. Nobody should. (Fin)