The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation is becoming more and more anxious as cases of COVID-19 continue to rise among those under the age of 12. In Sunday’s daily update, there were 132 new cases of COVID-19 in children under the age of 12, which made up roughly 25 percent of the 543 new cases reported.  

While the South East Cornerstone Public School Division, like many across the province, introduced mask mandates last week, the STF is saying that it just isn’t enough, as they see cases continue to go up. They are calling on the government to make mask-wearing in schools mandatory for all students, as well as mandating vaccines for teachers as well as eligible students. 

"I'm not holding my breath with the government right now because it seems like I've been underwhelmed every step of the way with the government’s response to a global pandemic,” said Patrick Maze, the president of the STF.  “The numbers we're seeing in kids under 11 in our schools who have COVID... that's alarming and those are kids who aren't eligible yet for vaccines and we have a higher duty in order to keep those students safe.”  

If vaccines become mandatory for staff and students, Maze added that there are currently no protocols put in place for children and teachers who medically can't have the vaccination. 

However, protocols will be put in place when necessary. 

The protocols would likely include mandatory mask-wearing, daily temperature checks, and frequent rapid testing. 

 Maze stated that those protocols aren't any different from what STF was asking for in schools last year. 

"We were asking for rapid tests in our schools in order to detect asymptomatic students and staff and unfortunately it really seems like the province is unwilling to really take this seriously." 

He stressed the importance of protecting children during the fourth wave, and that he is hopeful the province will take some sort of action to implement tighter measures in schools.