Education Minister Kelvin Goertzen reports the Manitoba government is mandating a remote learning period for some students.  He announced they will move to a period of two weeks of full remote learning for grades seven to twelve following the traditionally scheduled Christmas break with kindergarten to grade six being able to continue to attend school in the regular times they would be expected to but families who choose to keep them at home in that K to six category are able to do so.

Goertzen adds the affected students will return to class January 18^th unless there are other public health issues that arise at that time.  He notes although transmission in schools is low evidence suggest older students have a higher incidence of contracting the virus so moving this group to remote learning will reduce the risk of transmission in the schools while minimizing the impact on kindergarten to grade six families and their parents.