HALIFAX -- Next week, thousands of students from one end of Nova Scotia to the other will be out of the classroom and on March break.
For many students and teachers that means heading out on vacation.
With COVID-19 concerns on the rise, the president of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union says some teachers are adjusting their March break plans.
"We know that there are teachers that are using their trip cancellation insurance and adjusting their plans so they’re not going to places where they're at risk,” said Paul Wozney, president of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union.
The union sent out information Wednesday to its members, outlining what protection they have under their collective agreement in the case of quarantine.
"We have language in our collective agreement that if any teacher, who is sort of placed under quarantine by a medical professional or by order of sorts, then we have language that covers them, that's not sick time,” said Wozney.
“For the duration that they're placed under quarantine we have a provision so members don't have to use their personal sick time to make sure there's income that comes to them."
In New Brunswick, the provincial government is telling students and staff to stay home for two weeks after returning from international travel.
However, in Nova Scotia, officials are asking for people who travel internationally to simply watch for COVID-19 symptoms.
"Our response in Nova Scotia continues to be in line broadly with the national planning and preparation, which is asking people who return from travel to monitor themselves for symptoms, those symptoms predominately being cough and fever,” said Nova Scotia Health Minister Randy Delorey.
"We're taking the advice of the chief medical officer and his advice right now is that anyone that's coming back that's symptomatic, self-isolate and not show up to either work, if they're an employee of our education system, if they're a student, we ask them to stay home,” added Nova Scotia Education Minister Zach Churchill.
To date, there have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia, but the NSTU says it has been in contact with government about preparations.
"I know everybody's waiting for you know, when are we going to close schools? The fact is right now, there's no need to close schools,” said Wozney.
“We don't have any confirmed cases and I think a blanket approach to closing schools, if there is a case in Nova Scotia, why would you close all the schools in the province if an outbreak is localized to a particular community?”
