New Westminster Secondary School families have received their eighth COVID-19 exposure notice of the school year.
The NWSS exposure was one of two added to the Fraser Health school exposures website Thursday (Dec. 3). The other was at Glenbrook Middle School, that school’s second of the year.
The NWSS notification relates to someone who was in the school on Nov. 23, while the Glenbrook case was in the school on Nov. 27.
As per provincial protocol, once a COVID-19 case is identified in a person associated with a school (staff or student), Fraser Health takes the lead on identifying contacts of that person and working with the school district to notify the school community of the case.
All members of a school community receive what are known as “early notification letters” informing them of the case and what dates that person may have been in the school while infectious. Health officials then follow up with contact tracing and determine whether anyone else needs to self-monitor or – less commonly - self-isolate as a result of their potential exposure.
As case numbers have risen, it has been taking longer for families to be notified of exposures in schools.
School district superintendent Karim Hachlaf raised the issue at a Nov. 17 school board meeting, noting the district always turns around its notification letters to families on the same day it receives word from health officials. With case numbers surging in Fraser Health, however, the school district hasn’t been receiving the information from health officials as quickly as it did at the beginning of the school year.
The lag time in notifying families has caused growing concern in New Westminster and other districts as families have raised questions about receiving exposure notices 12 or more days into the 14-day monitoring period.
There may be signs of hope on the horizon, however. The most recent exposure at Glenbrook marks one of the shortest turn-around times in recent weeks – with only five days between the exposure date and notification of families.
When asked about the concerns over reporting time, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said efforts are being made to report that information in a more timely manner.
“Our focus is obviously on making sure the families and the school community are notified as soon as possible and that those are posted,” she said during a Dec. 2 media briefing.
Henry noted deputy provincial health officer Dr. Reka Gustafson is leading a team that’s working closely with the Ministry of Education and school districts, particularly in the Fraser Health and Vancouver Coastal Health regions, where the majority of school exposures are being reported.
She said officials are “making progress” in terms of catching up on reporting.
“Sometimes it’s a challenge because it may take time before somebody’s tested, before we recognize that they’re in a school situation, so it is not always possible,” she said.
Henry pointed out that, because people can now receive COVID-19 test results by text message, they may get their own results and share them with people before public health is even aware.
Henry also reiterated that public health officials continue to look at all the data surrounding COVID-19 exposures in schools.
“It’s still, though we have quite a lot of exposure events where people have been in the school setting, there still is very rarely transmission in those settings, and if it is, it’s mostly to one or, at most, two other people,” she said. “We’ve had very few outbreaks, as you know, and we’re trying to learn from all of those.”
