Public Policy & Economic Impact

public-policy-economic-impact, science-brief

| August 25, 2022

Infection Prevention and Control Considerations for Schools during the 2022-2023 Academic Year

In-person schooling is essential for children and youth for both academic educational attainment and for the development of social, emotional growth and life skills. Schools are a place where children gain essential academic skills, form friendships, learn social and life skills, and are key settings for physical activity. Schools provide critical services that help to mitigate health disparities, including school nutrition programs, public health services (immunizations, dental screening), health care services (speech and language therapy, occupational therapy), social services and mental health supports. Schools should therefore remain open for in-person learning. Optimizing the health and safety of children and staff in schools requires that certain health and safety measures be in place, irrespective of the COVID-19 pandemic. These “permanent” measures include achieving and maintaining adequate indoor air quality, environmental cleaning and disinfection, hand hygiene, students and staff staying home when sick and up-to-date routine and recommended immunizations for students and staff. Temporary infection-related health and safety measures (e.g., masking, physical distancing, cohorting, active screening, testing) can help reduce the transmission of communicable illnesses in schools. However, some can pose additional challenges to school operations, student learning and student wellness. Furthermore, some of these measures may adversely impact social connectedness, which is of vital importance for children of all ages and of heightened significance in the adolescent years. Therefore, a thoughtful approach based on real-time local level analysis is recommended before reintroducing these temporary measures after careful consideration of the potential benefits and negative consequences. Given that schools are not isolated from communities, implementation of these temporary measures should not be done in isolation of community measures for indoor spaces. These temporary measures are not expected to be required at the start of the 2022 school year.

public-policy-economic-impact, science-brief

| October 19, 2021

COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates for Ontario’s Hospital Workers: Response to the Premier of Ontario

public-policy-economic-impact, science-brief

| July 21, 2021

COVID-19 Vaccine Certificates: Key Considerations for the Ontario Context

Many jurisdictions are developing and implementing COVID-19 vaccine certificates as falsification-proof, verifiable proof of immunization in secure digital or paper-based formats. Vaccine certificates can be used to regulate entry into discretionary settings that pose a high risk for SARS-CoV-2 transmission (e.g., indoor dining, bars, gyms, cultural and sports events). Vaccine certificates can also be used in non-discretionary settings (e.g., schools, universities, congregate settings, and workplaces), especially in settings that require mandatory vaccination. On a short-term basis, vaccine certificates could enable the re-opening of high-risk settings sooner and/or at increased capacity. Vaccine certificates will be of particular importance to maintain economic and societal reopening if public health measures need to be reintroduced. Some jurisdictions are also implementing vaccine certificates with the goal of incentivizing COVID-19 vaccination. On a longer-term basis, vaccine certificates can serve as a verifiable, secure, standardized, accessible and portable records of immunization. There is currently no scientific evidence of the direct impact of COVID-19 vaccine certificates on SARS-CoV-2 transmission or population vaccination rates, and there are important ethical, legal, accessibility, and privacy considerations concerning their development and implementation.

public-policy-economic-impact, science-brief

| July 19, 2021

School Operation for the 2021-2022 Academic Year in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

In-person learning is essential for the learning and overall well-being of children and youth. Therefore, barring catastrophic circumstances, schools should remain open for in-person learning. The level of community COVID-19 burden should inform the degree of school-based measures: the provided framework should be implemented at the regional level by public health units, considering local vaccination coverage rate and metrics of COVID-19 disease severity and to a lesser extent, SARS-CoV-2 transmission rate. Permanent measures that support the ongoing operation of schools, irrespective of the COVID-19 pandemic, include vaccination of all eligible individuals, exclusion of sick students and staff, hand hygiene, adequate ventilation, and environmental cleaning. Temporary measures (e.g., masking, physical distancing, cohorting) implemented in response to changes in COVID-19 disease burden should take into consideration student age, grade, and vaccination status. Re-initiation and maintenance of extracurricular activities (e.g., music, sports, clubs) is an important component of return-to-school plans.

public-policy-economic-impact, science-brief

| June 4, 2021

COVID-19 and Education Disruption in Ontario: Emerging Evidence on Impacts

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant education disruption in Ontario. This has included mass and localized school closures, multiple models of educational provision and gaps in support for students with disabilities. The unequal distribution of school closures and pandemic-associated hardships, particularly affecting low-income families in which racialized and Indigenous groups, newcomers and people with disabilities are overrepresented, appear to be deepening and accelerating inequities in education outcomes, wherever data have been collected. Further, there are health risks associated with closures including significant physical, mental health and safety harms for students and children. Modelling suggests long-term impacts on students’ lifetime earnings and the national economy. There are substantial data gaps on the impact of closures on Ontario’s children. However, existing information and analysis can inform strategies to minimize further pandemic disruptions to children’s education and development. Identifying or tracking areas where students are facing the greatest challenges in the wake of COVID-19 and implementing systematic supports to address pandemic-associated educational harms are critical to minimizing the overall impact and supporting recovery.

public-policy-economic-impact, science-brief

| May 29, 2021

Response to the Premier of Ontario

public-policy-economic-impact, science-brief

| April 28, 2021

Benefits of Paid Sick Leave During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Multiple jurisdictions have adopted or adapted paid sick leave policies to reduce the likelihood of employees infected with SARS-CoV-2 presenting to work, which can lead to the spread of infection in workplaces. During the COVID-19 pandemic, paid sick leave has been associated with an increased likelihood of workers staying at home when symptomatic. Paid sick leave can support essential workers in following public health measures. This includes paid time off for essential workers when they are sick, have been exposed, need to self-isolate, need time off to get tested, when it is their turn to get vaccinated, and when their workplace closes due to an outbreak. In the United States, the introduction of a temporary paid sick leave, resulted in an estimated 50% reduction in the number of COVID-19 cases per state per day. The existing Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB) cannot financially protect essential workers in following all public health measures, places the administrative burden of applying for the benefit on essential workers, and neither provides sufficient, nor timely payments. Table 1 lists the characteristics of a model paid sick leave program as compared with the CRSB. Implementation of the model program should be done in a way that is easy to navigate and quick for employers.