There are 87 active COVID-19 exposures in schools in B.C.’s Southern Interior, according to the latest data published by Interior Health.
All of the coronavirus exposures occurred in late September when a staff member or student attended school while infectious.
“When a school staff member or student tests positive for COVID-19, public health will notify staff and students who need to take a specific action, such as self-monitoring or isolation, as a result of a COVID-19 exposure,” the IH school exposure website said.
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The list includes 21 schools in the Central Okanagan, a B.C. hot spot for COVID-19.
Seventeen of the Central Okanagan schools are public, three are independent and one is Kelowna-based within the Conseil Scolaire Francophone school district.
The most recent exposures occurred on Sept. 29 at H.S. Greanada Middle School in Lake Country, Hudson Road Elementary in West Kelowna, and North Glenmore Elementary in Kelowna.
The Okanagan Skaha school district is reporting four active school exposures in the Penticton area, including Columbia Elementary, Parkway Elementary, Skaha Lake Middle School and Uplands Elementary. French school Ecole Entre-Lacs in Penticton recorded exposure dates from Sept. 21-24.
In the Oliver and Keremeos areas, Oliver Elementary, Southern Okanagan Secondary School and Similkameen Elementary School have also experienced recent COVID-19 exposures.
In School District 22, Vernon’s W.L. Seaton Secondary, Ellison Elementary, St. James School and Cherryville’s local elementary school reported positive cases of COVID-19.
The 87 school exposures are double the number Interior Health reported on Sept. 30.
The regional health authority added 41 locations to the list in the days after B.C. health officials gave the go-ahead to publish school exposure data for the 2021-2022 school year.
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Masks mandatory for all K-12 students in B.C. schools
Immunization clinics were held at schools in Lake Country, Rutland, West Kelowna and Kelowna from Sept. 16-24 to combat the spread of the virus.
British Columbia’s provincial health officer has mandated masks for all school children across the province after three school districts announced their own policies to include kindergarten-to-Grade 3 students.
It’s the second school policy change in the last week based on pressure from parents after Dr. Bonnie Henry announced a resumption in notifications of COVID-19 exposures.
School districts in Vancouver, Surrey and Burnaby had already announced that a provincial mask mandate for students in Grade 4 and above would be extended to younger kids on Monday, leaving 57 other school districts to either introduce policies independently or wait for Henry to impose a provincewide measure.
In announcing the across-the-board mask mandate Friday, Henry said she has heard the concerns of parents and teachers as cases have risen rapidly over the last couple of weeks among kids, especially those between the ages of five and 11, and in communities with lower vaccination rates.
Henry said the extended school mask mandate will be in place until at least January, at which time it will be assessed based on whether vaccines would be available for children under 12.
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A rising number of infections among children has led to more exposure to the virus “and several school outbreaks have also been detected and reported,” she said.
Most of the COVID-19 transmission continues to occur in homes and through social networks as a significant number of kids are being tested for the illness, Henry said.
She encouraged parents and others in the community to get vaccinated and said school staff should also ensure they get their shots to reduce the risk of COVID-19.
The provincial health officer said a return to learning cohorts has not been considered because that approach caused significant challenges in the operation of schools when other strategies like reducing group gatherings and assemblies have been more effective in lowering the transmission of COVID-19.
Education Minister Jennifer Whiteside said school districts have done the work of maintaining and upgrading heating and ventilation systems, while efforts are underway to provide affordable air filters in districts where that is warranted.
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Some parents have complained that information about exposures and cases at schools is not being posted online fast enough so children can be kept at home if necessary.
Henry said positive lab tests among school-aged children are being prioritized for follow-up within 24 hours as members of a public health team call parents about where their kids were during the period they were infectious so possible clusters in schools and communities can be quickly identified.
However, public health resources for contact tracing are stretched and a large number of cases in the Northern Health region and parts of Interior Health means there can be a delay of two or three days in posting information for the school community, she said.
Kyenta Martins, spokeswoman for the parent-driven group Safe Schools Coalition BC, said any lack of resources should be remedied because parents want a clear picture of what’s happening at schools as quickly as possible.
She said an online parent-led page called “BC School COVID Tracker,” which posts exposure and case information based on verifiable data from parents, would continue to be a go-to source if there’s a continuing lag in information posted by public health officials.