"The situation is not ideal, the situation is not settled, but it is relatively under control, so classrooms are safe," Bernard Drainville says.
Air quality in Quebec schools has become an absolute priority for Education Minster Bernard Drainville, who said Friday “there is no file on which I have spent more time and energy.”
Drainville held a press conference to discuss ventilation systems in schools, telling reporters the situation in one per cent of the province’s classrooms remains problematic.
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According to the latest statistics, 724 classrooms had a weekly concentration of CO2 higher than 1,500 parts per million (ppm), while 72 reported concentrations higher than 2,000 ppm.
Drainville acknowledged the ideal level would be 1,000 ppm, adding the situation would probably worsen during the winter when classroom windows are usually closed.
Air ventilation in classrooms was a major concern in the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic and an issue Drainville’s predecessor, Jean-François Roberge, repeatedly minimized.
Without criticizing Roberge, Drainville said he had been quick to ask his bureaucrats, “What are you doing? What are we doing?”
“What I am telling you is that the situation is not ideal, the situation is not settled, but it is relatively under control, so classrooms are safe,” he said.
Faced with “the wave of infections presently in Quebec,” schools are being advised to open their windows this winter despite the cold, while taking into account the “comfort of the pupils.”
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