Island Health is reporting four new COVID-19 exposures in Port Alberni schools, prompting an entire classroom to self-isolate in one case.
Exposures have been identified at EJ Dunn Elementary School on Nov. 24, Maquinna Elementary School on Nov. 19, 20, 23, 24 and 25, AW Neill Elementary School on Nov. 23 and 24, and Eighth Avenue Learning Centre on Nov. 24 and 25.
Island Health said in a letter to the Maquinna Elementary School community that an entire classroom is self-isolating due to “the nature of the contact in this classroom.” Staff and students needing to self-isolate have been called by contact tracers.
The exposure at EJ Dunn was limited to a self-contained early-years education program at the school and does not affect the general population, according to Island Health, while the exposure at the Eighth Avenue Learning Centre was “of limited duration and confined to a small program” at the school. The health authority has finished identifying any close contacts of the case at AW Neill who will need to self-isolate for 14 days.
Students and staff at the schools who have not been contacted are asked to monitor themselves for COVID-19 symptoms and seek testing if they develop symptoms.
At least 530 schools in the province have been affected by a COVID-19 exposure as of Nov. 29, according to B.C. School COVID Tracker, a group that tracks cases in schools.
An exposure is defined as a single person with a lab-confirmed case of COVID-19 who was in the school during their infectious period, and does not necessarily indicate there has been transmission within the school. A cluster is declared when two or more individuals with confirmed cases are in the school during their infectious period, which may be linked to school-based transmission.
Island Health declared a cluster at Randerson Ridge Elementary School in Nanaimo in mid-November, and last week, an entire class in Sir James Douglas Elementary was asked to self-isolate after an exposure.
The proportion of cases in school-aged children remains low and transmission of the virus in schools is very rare, according to school officials, but many are concerned about the virus spreading in schools.
A group of concerned parents is staging a “sick out” today, asking other parents to keep their kids home from school to demand new measures they hope will enhance safety.
The group, B.C. Student Sick Out, is asking for a maximum class size of 15 children, improved online learning options and a mask mandate in all schools.
“Our students and teachers are not disposable and deserve the safety standards that every single other place of employment is required by law to implement,” the group’s Facebook page says. About 300 people have indicated they’re interested in participating on the event page.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has said children do not need to wear masks at their desks in the classroom, although they are expected to wear them in some common areas.
Henry has also stressed the importance of keeping schools open.
“We know the downside impacts of not having in-classroom learning for children affects them for the rest of their lives, some more than others. And that is an important differential — an important inequity — that we need to address,” she said Friday.
Henry also said there has been more adult-to-adult transmission recorded in school settings than transmission between children.
“We have seen some cases, a couple of outbreaks, and a couple of cases where classes, or cohorts, have had to be sent home to self-isolate,” Henry said. “There has been, as well, a number of schools that have closed because of staff being required to self-isolate. The children have been at home in those cases, but not in isolation. So it is a relatively small percentage, given the number of children and adults in our school system.”
regan-elliott@timescolonist.com
— With files from Cindy E. Harnett
