In a special council meeting held Sunday evening, councillors in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo passed a motion to declare a state of local emergency in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19.
The state of local emergency means council will be voting on a number of enhanced measures at its next meeting on Tuesday.
Councillors also passed a motion Sunday to make a request to the provincial and federal governments for an accelerated vaccine distribution for Wood Buffalo. They also passed a motion that local leaders call for an urgent, emergency meeting with the Premier, Ministers and Federal leaders.
Fort McMurray moves all grades to online learning beginning Monday
Fort McMurray’s Catholic and public school divisions have announced they have received approval to move all grades to online learning from Monday April 26 to May 10.
Last week it was announced, students grades 7-12 would be learning online.
READ MORE: Fort McMurray grades 7-12 students moving to online learning
In a statement released Sunday, the school divisions said the move is due to the continuing increase in COVID-19 numbers as well as staff and students in isolation.
The request was approved Sunday by the Ministry of Education, according to a joint statement.
“We want all students to be in school, but with this recent surge in COVID-19 cases in Fort McMurray we know this is a difficult, yet correct decision. We need to once again come together as a community and work together to stay safe,” George McGuigan, Fort McMurray Catholic Schools Superintendent, said.
“The numbers in Fort McMurray are currently staggering and schools are simply a reflection of our community. There are two months left in our school year and we need the whole region to work together to help our students finish our school year safely.”
