Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Dominic Cardy is hopeful students across New Brunswick will return to in-person on Monday, January 31, 2022, the same day a 16-day province-wide lockdown is scheduled to end. Cardy said Public Health will ultimately make that call later in the week, but in the meantime the department has been preparing a safe return-to-school plan.

“I know families are anxiously awaiting a return to in-person learning for our students as soon as possible,” said Cardy at a press conference in Fredericton. “Since we announced the move to home learning following the winter break, staff at the department, in districts and schools, have all been working diligently to ensure we are taking every precaution when students return.”

The Department of Education has invested about $3 million to purchase and install 2,000 portable HEPA filters for classrooms at 60 schools which currently don't have integrated mechanical ventilation systems. This is an important step in making classrooms safer in the face of the highly transmissable Omicron variant.

“Given the rapid transmissibility of Omicron, we know we need to use every single tool available that could potentially help in reducing transmissions,” said Cardy. “While the report notes there is no evidence that directly shows HEPA filtration reduces COVID-19 transmission in classrooms, it found that when they are properly installed, operated and maintained, they could be an additional line of defence, when they are coupled with masking, to help support a reduction of the propagation of airborne COVID particles in classrooms which lack mechanical ventilation systems.”

Students are encouraged to wear three-layered masks. A supply of medical-grade masks, rated as KN95 or higher, have been secured for teachers and school staff.