CHARLOTTETOWN — Residents of Prince Edward Island will see public health measures begin to ease next week, including a return to in-class learning for the province's students, officials announced Wednesday.
This comes amid signs that the largest wave of the disease to hit the province since the pandemic began is beginning to subside.
"We’ve been able to avoid a lot of the dire effects and impacts of COVID, but this last five-week wave has hit us especially hard," Premier Dennis King told a news conference. "The road we have to travel won’t be easy, but we have to begin to make it," he added.
Officials said all kindergarten to Grade 12 schools will reopen Monday with enhanced health measures.
Recent guidance from the province says all students, staff and visitors will need to wear masks in indoor areas of school. The guidance also states that before classes resume, all students and staff will be asked to take two rapid COVID-19 tests 48 hours apart, and students will need to take up to three rapid tests a week for the first few weeks of school.
"The priority is for students and staff to return to in-class learning as safely as possible," chief medical officer Dr. Heather Morrison said. "It is important that we take every reasonable step to support the reopening of our ... public and private schools."
She told reporters more information about what actions will be taken if cases do appear in schools will be released later this week.
As well, she said the latest COVID-19 trends in the province are positive, allowing for the loosening of some public health measures starting Monday. "We’ve seen what the trend has been in terms of cases ... the indication of that trend going down is really good," Morrison said.
She said indoor dining and fitness facilities will be able to operate at 50 per cent capacity starting Monday, and organized gatherings will be permitted with a limit of 50 people. Visitation to long-term care homes will be increased to allow three designated outside caregivers and three designated visitors.
Officials announced 255 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday, bringing the active case count to 2,640.
There are 14 people in hospital, including two in intensive care. Morrison said there are also two other people in hospital who have tested positive for the disease but who are being treated mainly for other illnesses.
Officials announced the first COVID-19-related death in the province on Jan. 14, and now nine people on the Island have died as a result of the disease.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 26, 2022.
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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
The Canadian Press
