New Westminster parents are still pushing for clarity around COVID-19 exposures in schools.
Laura Kwong, representing the New Westminster District Parent Advisory Council (DPAC), raised the concern with trustees at the Dec. 14 school board meeting.
She said parents are still grappling with the lack of transparency around cases in schools.
“Caregivers and parents are trying to make the best decisions for their families with incomplete information,” she said.
The challenge stems from the fact that the existing school exposure notification system does not reveal the number of positive cases involved in an “exposure.” School exposures are published by date on the Fraser Health website, but the site does not specify the number of cases that may be involved in any given exposure.
The website does not list “clusters,” where groups of two or more cases are found to be or suspected to be related.
Fraser Health also follows up directly with staff and students as it deems necessary to do so. Depending on their level of exposure to a person with COVID-19, they may receive a “self-monitor” letter asking them to monitor for symptoms or – in the case of closer contact – a “self-isolation” letter that directs them to isolate for a particular period of time.
Kwong said parents are aware of cases where there have been multiple positive cases in classrooms, “yet the notification appears to mask this fact,” she said. Kwong said “exposure notice language that intentionally hides multiple positive cases under one exposure” is not sufficient, and she asked the board to relay those concerns to Fraser Health.
Karim Hachlaf, superintendent of the New Westminster school district, noted the existing letters that are sent out to families are done on behalf of the Fraser Health Authority.
Hachlaf has regular meetings with the school medical health officer from Fraser Health.
“I absolutely will convey on behalf of DPAC, during our monthly meetings, the ongoing concern around some of the lack of detail,” he said.
Hachlaf provides monthly COVID-19 updates at public board meetings outlining the number of self-monitor and self-isolation letters the district has sent.
In the period from Nov. 4 to Dec. 1, the district issued a total of 16 self-monitor notifications around cases at seven New Westminster schools. That’s down from 24 notifications in the previous reporting period (Oct. 7 to Nov. 3).
The number of self-isolation letters, however, climbed in the same time period – from seven to 13. The self-isolation letters (which all involved individuals, not full classes) were sent regarding cases at four elementary schools: Herbert Spencer, Connaught Heights, Lord Kelvin and Skwo:wech.
Since Dec. 1, there have also been reported exposures involving seven New Westminster schools: Connaught Heights, Qayqayt, Lord Tweedsmuir and Lord Kelvin elementary schools, Fraser River and Glenbrook middle schools and New Westminster Secondary School.
How many cases those exposures involve is not known.
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