New Brunswick students return to school without mandatory masking

New Brunswick students returned to the classroom on Monday no longer required to wear masks, with the province lifting all of its COVID-19 restrictions – marking a major change for schools after two years of pandemic protocols.

“It’s nice to see some students’ faces,” says Saint John High principal Lori Wall, “it’s something that for our grade nine and 10 students, I haven’t seen their faces because they came in during the pandemic when masks were mandatory.”

The reaction to the end of the mandate among students in Saint John was mixed, with some welcoming the change and others hesitant to drop masking altogether.

“It’s kind of hard to wrap my head around,” says grade 11 student Sarah Bedell. “A couple of weeks ago it was, we had to wear our masks…we have to go out in the hallway to drink water and now we can do whatever we want, I don’t know, I think it’s a little weird.”

For grade 10 student Matthew Ketch, and many others, it’s an adjustment.

“Especially walking through the halls, nobody has their masks on and it feels really weird to see people’s faces,” says Ketch, “and I think it’s nice to have a change.”

“It’s nice – but at the same time I don’t really like it,” says grade 11 student Madison King, “because I don’t really want the risk of the other students and teachers getting affected by COVID.”

Some students are making the choice to stay masked, and Wall says they’re seeing some staff making that choice too.

“It’s all for various reasons as to why they would keep them on,” says Wall, “but we have those staff that are continuing to wear them, and will continue – and we have those just really happy to say bye to the masks.”

Along with masks no longer being needed, physical education and music classes are back to normal but the province says teachers are being encouraged to hold outdoor classes if the weather allows.

As well, proof of vaccination is no longer needed to take part in any extracurricular activities.