‘We will continue working with our school communities to ensure they have the supplies needed to keep students, staff and families safe’
Saskatchewan is purchasing an additional four million medical-grade disposable masks and 30,000 face shields from two companies based in Saskatoon marking the fourth order of personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies the province has provided directly to schools.
“Our government is committed to providing teachers, students and school staff continued access to personal protective equipment from locally based companies,” said Dustin Duncan, minister of education. “We will continue working with our school communities to ensure they have the supplies needed to keep students, staff and families safe.”
The supplies will be delivered to school divisions in the middle of the month, and will ensure that all students and staff have daily access to masks for the remainder of the school year. The medical-grade disposable masks will be shipped directly to school divisions by Innovation Safety Supply.
This school year, the government has already provided 12.4 million disposable and 210,000 reusable masks to school divisions and independent schools.
Meanwhile, the face shields will come from Saskatoon-based company Benchmark Personal Protective Equipment, adding to the 46,000 that have already been provided to school divisions and independent schools.
The purchase is being made using the $10 million allocated to the Ministry of Education by the provincial COVID-19 contingency fund for the purchase of PPE for schools.
In January, Saskatchewan announced it is providing schools with $10 million worth of safety gear to continue to help keep students and school staff safe. The province also invested $2.5 million for independent schools that have experienced an increase in enrolment due to the pandemic.
Importance of masks
According to the World Health Organization, masks are a key measure to suppress transmission and save lives.
“Masks should be used as part of a comprehensive ‘Do it all!’ approach including physical distancing, avoiding crowded, closed and close-contact settings, good ventilation, cleaning hands, covering sneezes and coughs, and more,” it said.
“While wearing a mask, you should still keep physical distance from others as much as possible. Wearing a mask does not mean you can have close contact with people. For indoor public settings such as busy shopping centres, religious buildings, restaurants, schools and public transport, you should wear a mask if you cannot maintain physical distance from others.”
