Children in British Columbia are gearing up for a voluntary return to school on Monday.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says the government thought carefully about the time to open up schools and the drop in COVID-19 cases supports their decision.
Henry also pushed back over concerns about a rise in cases among children as schools reopen.
She says the province knows how to manage those cases.
Most public elementary, secondary and independent schools are reopening on a part-time basis, mainly as a dry run in advance of expected full-time openings in September.
Under their reopening plan, Grade 6 to 12 students will return one day per week while Kindergarten to Grade 5 students will be in class roughly every other day.
Quebec saw at least 41 staff and students test positive for the novel coronavirus in the first two weeks after reopening elementary schools outside the Montreal area.
Quebec has 50,651 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in comparison B-C has had a total of 2,573.