WINNIPEG – COVID-19 is closing schools in southeast Manitoba next week.

Hanover, the biggest rural school division in the province, will go Critical (Red) under the Pandemic Response Syetm and switch back to remote learning on Tuesday.

This is being done because test positivity rates in and around Steinbach have hit 40 per cent, almost triple the provincial and Winnipeg rates.

The Pallister government says the decision is being made because of widespread community transmission, not school-based transmission.

What does a Critical (Red) level mean for schools?

• All students move to teacher-led remote learning at home.
• Schools and school divisions will endeavour to accommodate K-6 children of critical services workers who cannot make alternative care arrangements so that these students may attend school. While at school, these students will participate in and receive support for the same teacher-led remote learning that their classmates who are learning from home are receiving.
• Students over age 12 who are children of critical services workers and who have disabilities or special needs that preclude them from staying home independently, may also be accommodated at the school and receive supervision and remote learning support.
• If you identified in-class learning is required through the recent CSW survey, your child can attend on Tuesday. You will be required to provide the transportation.