Tuesday October 19, 2021 | LANGFORD, BC
by Mary P Brooke, B.Sc., Editor | Island Social Trends
Now several days after the Thanksgiving long weekend (which was October 9 through 11) and after the updated mask mandate for students in all grades (K-12, instead of just Gr 4-12, which came into effect Oct 4), the October 18 COVID profile for Island Health shows potential school exposures on the rise.
The Delta variant of the COVID virus is highly transmissible, says Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry. The Delta variant is found by whole genome sequencing in almost every case of COVID BC (a trend that was on the rise even by the third week of July 2021).
West shore & Sooke:
In the Sooke School District (SD62) — with schools in Langford, Colwood and Sooke, at the beginning of the month there was only one school (Ecole Poirier Elementary) with a potential exposure from back in September. SD62 Superintendent Scott Stinson made a point of that during the October 5 Education Policy Committee meeting.
Now there are five SD62 schools, plus a private school in the west shore, showing COVID potential exposures, according to the list on the Island Health website on October 18 (continuing the same on October 19):
- In Langford: Happy Valley Elementary (Oct 4 & 5); Spencer Middle School (Oct 7 & 8)
- In Colwood: no SD62 schools, but listed is private school Brookes Westshore (Oct 4 & 5)
- In Sooke: Ecole Poirier Elementary (Oct 4, 5, 6, 7, 9); John Muir Elementary (Oct 12 & 13); Edward Milne Community School / secondary (Oct 5 & 6)
Masks on or off:
Last week during the morning recess, virtually every child actively moving around on the playground during recess at one local school was *not* wearing a mask. According to SD62 communications officer Lindsay Vogan it’s up to each school to decide about outdoor use of masks (while indoors of course they are required, for all grades).
That same school is now listed on the Island Health exposures page.
Parents are advised:
If you have not been notified by Public Health by phone or by letter that you or your child need to self-isolate, you/they may continue to attend school as long as you/they are not experiencing any symptoms. More information about school exposures is published on the Island Health COVID-19 in Schools information page.
Parents are asked to monitor themselves and their child(ren) for symptoms of COVID-19. There is a daily health check form at http://www.bccdc.ca/schools and the self-assessment tool available at bc.thrive.health.
