Interior Health wants to offer a reassuring message for parents who are sending their children back to school next week: “We have your back”.
Dr. Interior Health Medical Health Officer Silvena Mema says public health protocols are in place to minimize the risk students may face in the classroom.
And the sane agency is well prepared to address any situation where an employee or student registers a COVID positive test.
“We’ve had to deal with outbreaks (in the central Okanagan) and now have a track record of controlling the spread. We’ve learned a lot about dealing with cluster outbreaks,” she said.
“That Kelowna has been able to smooth the curve when cases did arise speaks well for our community,” continued Mema.
“My own children are eleven and eight years old and I want them to go to school for their own social and emotional wellbeing. The school will not be the same and we must learn to live with some risk from the pandemic.
But with this risk we can also do a lot with prevention in order to minimize it. “
Mema reflects the feelings Dr. Bonnie Henry, the BC Provincial Medical Health Officer, has made the point of being calm, safe, and kind.
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According to Mema, all public safety measures passed by the school district have been approved by Public Health, the Department of Education and the Health Department.
She stressed that, ultimately, parents have an important role to play in protecting their child’s health, from monitoring their children’s health for symptoms to educating them about compliance with public health safety protocols that are also reinforced in school and the Contact Interior Health (IH) to determine if their children need testing if they show symptoms of an illness.
IH is positive case when it comes to showing schools how to react when a student or staff member tests positive.
Mema said if a COVID test is warranted, results will come back within 48 hours. During this time, the student or staff member must remain at home in self-quarantine.
If the test is positive, IH will start a follow-up initiative to identify the best strategy for the school and to thoroughly investigate who the person contacted within the two days leading up to the test.
The student will also need to self-quarantine for 10 days while their symptoms are monitored in case further healthcare steps are required.
In previous cases to which IH responded, tracing has been an effective tool to get COVID clusters under control, identify those potentially infected and have them tested, rather than initiating widespread closures or quarantine instructions
“What we learned from an indoor farm outbreak is that we isolated those who tested positive and allowed the other workers to continue working on the site, and it was a success,” she recalls.
She warned that students likely to develop COVID could be infected by adults. This reflects how schools are dealing with COVID and shows how the larger community is dealing with the pandemic.
“If COVID is low in a particular community, it is likely to be reflected in local schools. If the infection rate is high, expect the same potential for schools, ”she said.
For more information on IH COVID-19 testing, please visit https://news.interiorhealth.ca/news/testing-information/.
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