Ministry of Education – COVID-19 Update on Physical Education Courses and School Transportation

The health situation calls for a certain amount of caution and the measures related to the wearing of masks must be adapted in certain circumstances in regions where the risk of an outbreak is greater due to the epidemiological situation.

Thus, in order to reduce isolation orders and avoid classroom closures,  the following measures should be implemented as of October 4.

Physical Education and Health Classes For Elementary School Students

• As a first step, Public Health recommends that Physical Education and Health classes be held outdoors whenever possible.
• If this is not possible, and the class is held indoors, the teacher must adapt his/her practice to ensure that a distance of two metres is maintained between students.
• If maintaining distance is not possible, the use of a procedural mask is the most appropriate.  It is then recommended that the teacher adapt the level of intensity and ensure the constant monitoring of the students.

This Public Health guideline is for elementary school students only. It does not apply to special programs, extracurricular activities or sports concentrations.

School Transportation

Pre-school students using multi-level school transportation will now be required to wear a procedural mask inside school buses and sedans. This preventive measure is also intended to avoid isolation orders or class closures due to contact with a case of COVID-19 during school transportation.

In this regard, pediatric procedural masks will be distributed to these pre-school students. If the intervention mask provided to the student is too large, it can be adjusted by reducing the length of the elastics with knots so that it covers the student's nose and mouth.

We wish to remind you that all preventive sanitary measures must be maintained and applied. It is therefore important to remind parents to be vigilant, to keep their child at home and to have him/her tested at a screening center if he/she shows symptoms like those of COVID-19.