School COVID-19 notification letters will now let families know whether their child was in fact in class with an infectious person – and New Westminster Secondary School families were the first in the city to get those letters.
Two more notifications went out to NWSS families over the weekend in connection with exposures that happened on Nov. 27 and Dec. 1. (The Fraser Health school exposures website also lists Nov. 30 as an exposure date, but that was a non-instructional day, so students were not at the school.)
This round of letters contained new information: “exposed” or “not exposed” notices to let families know whether their child was in direct contact with the infected person.
“Early notification letters” have been standard procedure since the beginning of the school year. Those letters alert families that someone who has since tested positive for COVID-19 was in the school, and potentially infectious, on a particular date or dates. In response to public concerns over the way those notifications were given, Fraser Health – which encompasses the region from Burnaby to Boston Bar, including New Westminster - has now changed its process.
As of Dec. 5, families will now receive one of three types of letters.
“Early notification letter – exposed” notices will be sent to individuals, cohorts and classes who have potentially been exposed to the person with COVID-19. The letter informs them to continue coming to school and to continue to monitor for symptoms daily.
“Early notification letter – not exposed” notices will be provided to people whose schedules mean they were not directly exposed to the person with COVID-19.
“If you are reading this letter, your child was not in the same class as the person with COVID-19. The person involved has been isolated. Because of this, there is no chance of direct exposure at this time,” reads one such letter.
A third type of letter, “early notification letter – general,” will be shared with those who aren’t part of a specific class or cohort, such as a staff person who works across multiple cohorts. Those letters will contain instructions about what the recipient should do.
The change is designed to help streamline the notification process and reduce anxiety for school communities, a Fraser Health press release notes.
As with the previous process, early notification letters are shared while contact tracing is underway, as health officials work with the person and their close contacts. Fraser Health will continue to directly contact anyone who is considered a close contact and provide them with instructions, as needed.
Another new step has also been added to the notification process. Once contact tracing is complete, Fraser Health will then issue a school bulletin to inform the entire school community that their investigation is over.
New Westminster school trustee Danielle Connelly lauded the changes on Twitter.
This is a good and welcome change. It’s incredibly stressful for families, staff, students waiting and wondering. @Fraserhealth #COVID19 #bced pic.twitter.com/GyzTm0I0v5
— Danielle Connelly (@DConnellyNW) December 7, 2020
Fraser Health has been adding more contact tracers over the past month as part of its effort to close the gap between when a positive COVID-19 test result comes in and when school communities are notified.
“While it does take time for a person to develop symptoms, realize they are sick, get tested, receive their results and then for assessment and notification of a school exposure to take place, this change will allow us to provide tailored notifications more quickly to impacted individuals,” the release notes.
“We ask all symptomatic staff and students to get tested as early as possible, even with mild symptoms, so that we have the results as soon as possible and can take action.”
More information about the COVID-19 testing process and how to book an appointment can be found on the Fraser Health website.
