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6 a.m. – Thousands of Canadian students return to schools as new COVID-19 cases emerge
Multiple provinces reported COVID-19 cases linked to schools just as thousands more students returned to class Tuesday, raising fears over what’s in store for a segment of the population largely sheltered from exposure over the past six months.
The fallout from earlier openings in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec cast a shadow over giddy reunions and hopes for a quick return to normal as more elementary, junior and high school students tested pandemic precautions that have touched nearly every aspect of school life, from the lunchroom to the playground.
Support Our Students Alberta, a non-partisan, non-profit public education advocacy group, released an online tracker for kindergarten to Grade 12 schools that suggested 22 schools have had cases since reopening a week ago.
Opposition NDP education critic Sarah Hoffman said there were at least 20 COVID-19 cases in schools, with 16 of those infections reported since Friday.
“This is a very disturbing trend just days into the school year,” Hoffman told a news conference.
Alberta Health Services said it was compiling a list of schools with confirmed cases. None of the schools have declared outbreaks and all remained open.
In Ottawa, officials told 193 students and seven staff to stay home after linking them to novel coronavirus infections.
THE CANADIAN PRESS
LOCAL RESOURCES
Here are a number of information and landing pages for COVID-19 from various health and government agencies.
• B.C. COVID-19 Symptom Self-Assessment Tool
• Vancouver Coastal Health – Information on Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)
• HealthLink B.C. – Coronavirus (COVID-19) information page
• B.C. Centre for Disease Control – Novel coronavirus (COVID-19)
• Government of Canada – Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Outbreak update
• World Health Organization – Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak
–with files from The Canadian Press
