Kids are back to class in just over two weeks, and school districts expected to make return to school plans public on Wednesday, B.C.’s top doctor again says there will be layers of protections built into the school setting.

Dr. Bonnie Henry says every school will look different, as districts adapt to what will work best for them.

“It will be like what we did for restaurants for example, where we put out the parameters and the restaurants came and said ‘this is how we will make it work in our setting, in our situation, so I can’t tell you exactly what the number is going to be in every class,” she said.

“It will depend on the school, it will depend on the age of the kids.”

Henry says the maximum number of kids and teachers in a cohort will be 60 for elementary and middle school kids and 120 for secondary schools.

“We still have our physical distancing measures in place, things like staggered times,” she added.

“So for example, different classes may go out to recess together if they are in the same learning group, but they’ll be in different parts. The layers are still there, but the details still need to be worked out within every single school and every school district, and that’s the work that’s been going on.”

Henry who says it is important that kids get the education and social connections that a school brings during their development years.

“We’re all anxious. Of course we are,” she noted. “We need to learn how to live with this virus and we in public health will be supporting doing that and making sure that those layers of protections are in place in our schools.”

Elementary and secondary school students in the Kamloops-Thompson School District will return to school either on Thursday, September 10 or Friday, September 11, and schools will be communicating specific schedules to parents and guardians on September 1.