Ontario School Safety

Schools are shared indoor spaces, making clean air essential to reduce the spread of respiratory viruses. 🏫

In this new video, IHEP Member Sarah Haines (@civmin.bsky.social) shares practical guidance on steps schools can take to improve the air quality.

Watch the video ▶️

#PublicHealth #Health

“Despite growing research…indoor air quality remains largely absent from education policy. Schools are inspected on safeguarding, food standards and water safety, but the air children breathe for a large portion of their waking day is largely unmonitored and unregulated.”

The 5p Solution: How clean air is transforming attendance and learning in one Hampshire school Generations of pupils have learned in stuffy classrooms filled with recycled air, but a Hampshire school is now breathing new life into the way lessons are taught.

www.portsmouth.co.uk/education/th...

There is an outstanding team of parent advocates in ON helping too🙌🙌
@onschoolsafety.bsky.social
We can all try to help!
Thinking about anti-smoking/curriculum changes and the impact they had on society.
These can go a step further re: clean indoor air👍

This is really big. IAQ in Canada is totally uncoordinated. We also learned today that Health Canada will be relseasing recommendations for school IAQ. A document for public consultation is coming in April or May 2026. /3

Our paper modelling transmission risk in schools is published in Nature Communications. **The relative contribution of close-proximity contacts, shared classroom exposure and indoor air quality to respiratory virus transmission in schools** doi.org/10.1038/s414...

It’s been a pretty good week-or-so. ☺️

ASHRAE 241 for all new GNB buildings, including schools.

Then-current ASHRAE 62.1 for retrofits.

CO2 monitoring in all schools by June.

Odd... glad this one works for you!

Here is an archived link:

bsky.app/profile/onsc...

Schools must improve air quality to slow spread of respiratory illness, advocates say Proper air filtration could help mitigate the rapid spread of flu and other illnesses, say experts and parents

Gift Link: www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/1c12514...

A school in Scarborough, Ont., in September, 2020. Many school boards have adopted measures to improve air quality since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Schools must improve air quality to slow spread of respiratory illness, advocates say www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic... @davidmcginn.bsky.social @onschoolsafety.bsky.social @drhanwell.bsky.social @mjnabuurs.bsky.social 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀 ⇢ CanadaHealthwatch.ca 🍁

archive.today/sO7Zp

Schools must improve air quality to slow spread of respiratory illness, advocates say Proper air filtration could help mitigate the rapid spread of flu and other illnesses, say experts and parents

“Getting sick frequently at school is not inevitable, and it isn’t because kids are just harbingers of viruses. It’s more because the buildings they inhabit do not have adequate ventilation and filtration systems to reduce illness transmission,” @mjnabuurs.bsky.social said.

(Archive 🔗 in next post)

Sure doesn’t - and these tools are great for home and workplace use, too!

We don’t have to wait for school to back in session to protect each other!

#TisTheSeason

Ontario Respiratory Virus Tool | Public Health Ontario This tool provides comprehensive epidemiological information of respiratory virus activity in Ontario, including COVID-19, influenza and other respiratory viruses. Explore case trends, laboratory test...

Data Source (Public Health Ontario): www.publichealthontario.ca/en/Data-and-...

Sick and tired?

Influenza test positivity is very high in Ontario and remains the highest in children (5-11 yrs) at 73.3% and adolescents (12-19 yrs) at 67.3%. COVID-19 and RSV are also circulating.

These viruses are airborne: we get sick by breathing them in!

But it doesn't have to be this way!

Blue and yellow grid of facts “time to clean the air”

Time to #CleanTheAir in Ontario public schools. 🏫

Via: @onschoolsafety.bsky.social
#OnPoli #OntEd

“There are a couple of reasons the flu season is particularly bad this year. Coming off of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people are continuing to live with weakened immune systems leaving them more susceptible to severe illness.”

Schools have become cesspools for cold and flu, but they don't have to be: Ontario School Safety The volunteer organization Ontario School Safety is calling on the provincial government to improve air quality in schools as flu spreads.

After the devastating loss of the 3 children in Ottawa, it was urgent to get info out re the additional ways avail to protect one’s loved ones from serious illness as we enter the holidays…

and to remind young fams this amt of sickness ISN’T normal.

#VaccinePlus

ottawa.citynews.ca/2025/12/21/s...

@onschoolsafety.bsky.social and @mjnabuurs.bsky.social, filling the "gaps in public messaging" left by public health and infection control leaders whose only priorities seem to be burying their own mistakes and cashing those bloated paycheques.

science.gc.ca/site/science...

Schools have become cesspools for cold and flu, but they don't have to be: Ontario School Safety The volunteer organization Ontario School Safety is calling on the provincial government to improve air quality in schools as flu spreads.

“We have been asking them and insist that they invest in measuring the air quality in those spaces, schools and school buses, and not leaving it as something for which school boards have to pull from an already overstretched budget,” @mjnabuurs.bsky.social says.

ottawa.citynews.ca/2025/12/21/s...

Image of CHEO entrance from outside. A grey building with yellow lights shining through the windows on the first floor. The pavement looks wet and the sky appears somewhat cloudy.

Ontario School Safety has been fighting for healthy, monitored air in Ontario classrooms and school busses for years.

Flu cases are rising across Canada and we grieve the tragic death of three children in Ottawa this week of Influenza A-related complications.

What will it take to clean the air?

Dr. Ciara Steele explained: “We cannot expect the general public, or institutions like schools and hospitals, to take the appropriate actions to reduce flu transmission if they are not being informed about how it is spreading, and it is mainly spreading through the air that we breathe indoors.”

Superflu - Irish medic calls for warning: 'It's time to grasp the nettle' Dr Ciara Steele blasted health bosses for not speaking out about flu spreading through the air

As the early surge in the so called
“super flu” further stresses health care systems across the UK, a GP and co-founder of Clean Air Advocacy Ireland is calling for officials to better communicate that flu can be spread through the air.

www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-n...

A white Flourecare rapid test platform showing negative results for Covid and RSV but a positive result for influenza A

screen grab of text from a paper about why people conceal infectious illness: “research highlights a critical public health issue, underscoring the need for solutions beyond individual responsibility.”

Hard for kiddo to do “public health” when individuals seem to think they have no role in it.

All the more reason we need to have #CleanAir #IAQ in shared spaces like schools where things like holiday events and school-wide assemblies create hotboxes for illness.

Happy bday, kiddo 😣

We need to do so much more to reduce the risk of infection with airborne viruses in schools and school buses. So. Much. More.

👇👇👇

Black-and-white street scene with several school-age children wearing masks; a girl in the center looks toward the camera. Large amber headline text overlays the scene. Full text: “Children can get Long COVID, and the risks are bigger than most people realize. For years, many parents, doctors, and policymakers were told that children are safe from COVID-19. Growing scientific evidence makes it clear that this notion is incorrect.” Footer: “The World Health Network is a network devoted to global compassion—working together to inspire collective action through science for a safer, healthier world.” Top: “whn.global” and a page URL “whn.global/scientific/long-covid-in-children/”.

Dark background with an image of a tired child lying on a couch, hand to forehead, partially visible at the bottom right; large amber headline at top. Full text: “What the science shows Long COVID is thoroughly documented in children. Studies show 10–15% of kids develop long-term symptoms after infection, and reinfections double the likelihood of Long COVID and related complications. Symptoms can affect brain function, sleep, autonomic regulation, respiratory health, the GI system, and include issues like fatigue, headaches, dizziness, chest pain, trouble concentrating, and new-onset diabetes. Imaging studies show measurable reductions in brain volume and disrupted connectivity in key regions — some changes persist over time.” Footer: “The World Health Network is a network devoted to global compassion—working together to inspire collective action through science for a safer, healthier world.”

Dark background with a photo of a child in a tan sweater sneezing into a tissue on the lower right; large amber headline. Full text: “Because no curative treatments exist, the best protection is reducing infections and reinfections. Layered precautions work: vaccination, high-quality respirators (N95/FFP2), ventilation + HEPA, remote-learning options, and avoiding pressure for kids to return to school while sick. Even if the percentage seems small, the scale of infections means the impact on children’s health, learning, and development could shape an entire generation. Protecting kids now is an investment in their long-term wellbeing.” Footer: “The World Health Network is a network devoted to global compassion—working together to inspire collective action through science for a safer, healthier world.” Top: “whn.global” and “whn.global/scientific/long-covid-in-children/”.

Long COVID in children is real, common, and still widely misunderstood. New pediatric studies show that kids and teens can experience lasting effects after infection, and reinfections significantly increase the risks.

We cannot have "disability-inclusive societies" while ignoring the airborne pathogens and pollutants that harm kids and educators in schools and on school buses.

Safe schools/buses require healthy air to breathe.

Anything less is exclusion.

#IDPD2025 #CleanTheAir #OntEd #Accessibility

Open Letter: Vaccine-PLUS Strategy Needed for Measles Outbreaks | Ontario School Safety Dear Premier Ford, Dr. Moore, and Hon. Ministers Jones, Calandra, Piccini and Dunlop: We are writing on behalf of Ontario School Safety (OSS), a grassroots, fully volunteer organization dedicated to ...

We’re embarrassed in #Ontario for our role in Canada’s high #Measles case numbers as well.

Well, our govt isn’t. I’d suggest they are purposefully negligent actually. They KNOW what’s needed…because @onschoolsafety.bsky.social
has told them ad nauseam:

www.ontarioschoolsafety.com/updates/open...

a woman in a yellow dress is standing in front of the ocean with her arms outstretched Alt: a woman in a yellow dress is standing in front of the ocean with her arms outstretched

Happy #WorldVentil8Day to all life on the planet!

Let’s do what we can to THRIVE, not just survive.

#CleanTheAir

@cathnoakes.bsky.social
@onschoolsafety.bsky.social
@theresisters.bsky.social
@coopspeak.bsky.social