OTTAWA -- The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board says some schools, in areas with a greater concentration of COVID-19, will have smaller class sizes in the fall.
At Tuesday's OCDSB meeting, trustee Justine Bell asked about class sizes and neighbourhood COVID stats.
"Bottom line, increased class size equals increased risk to the population," she said. "What we also heard from OPH is that in Ottawa there are certain neighbourhoods that have been more prone to COVID cases. Can we look at increasing investments into those neighbourhoods and those schools, ensuring the class sizes in those neighbourhoods are smaller?"
Superintended of Program and Learning K-12 Nadia Towaij replied to say that is part of the board's plan.
"The schools that are in the areas that are identified by OPH will be privileged with small class sizes, so that has been taken into our design," Towaij said.
Which schools will have the smaller sizes has not yet been announced.
In a statement to CTV News, an OCDSB spokesperson said the board is working on a variety of strategies.
"The OCDSB is working closely with Ottawa Public Health to support all school communities. In cases where communities may have experienced higher transmission rates, we will work with health authorities to identify additional supports that help to meet any specific needs of the community," the statement said.
"Some examples may include working with the school nurse and admin team to identify community needs, more targeted communication strategies, reviewing spacing and staffing allocations to support smaller classes where possible, the provision of additional masks for students, and supporting families with additional parent information and/or resources."
Alta Vista, Gloucester-Southgate wards high in COVID cases
According to ward-based data from Ottawa Public Health, Alta Vista, Gloucester-Southgate and Beacon Hill-Cyrville are the top three wards with the highest rate of COVID-19 per 100,000 residents.
However, in a statement to CTV News, OPH cautions that this data is not indicative of COVID-19 "hot spots" and that the entire city is affected by the novel coronavirus.
"While OPH currently reports ward-based data on our website dashboard, we caution against relying too heavily on this information as it is only reflective of the place of residence of Ottawans with confirmed COVID-19 and not necessarily indicative of where transmission occurred," the statement said. "Exposure to COVID-19 can occur anywhere, and the virus is present in every neighbourhood across the city."
OPH said the OCDSB is the only school board that has decided to take measures to reduce class sizes, as far as it is aware.
"There are multiple variables that increase or decrease a school or neighbourhood's risk-factors for virus transmission, and OPH can't identify specific schools in Ottawa. Our view as a public health authority is to work to prevent and reduce the spread of the virus through the community as a whole, to reduce the risk of getting in schools," OPH said.
Small class sizes large factor to reducing spread: expert
Dr. Gerald Evans, chair of Queen's University Division of Infectious Diseases, told CTV News that keeping schools from becoming COVID-19 hot spots depends on two main factors, and keeping class sizes small is one of them.
"That needs to be kept at a small number and whether that means cohorting students so that some smaller classes in the morning for one group, and a smaller class in the afternoon for another group," said Dr. Evans.
"That's really critical, because when we cram classrooms, we have lots of students in classrooms, then that increases the probability of outbreaks."
The other factor is keeping community transmission low, something Ottawa Public Health has also said.
I can't emphasise it enough as long as community prevalence of the virus is low, we know that in most jurisdictions where that has happened opening schools has been relatively safe," Dr. Evans said.
