What Happens When COVID Shows Up In The Classroom?

Manitoba's Education Minister says his message today for parents of students is similar to the advice he gave earlier in the year. That message is that the 2020/21 school year will be different.

Kelvin Goertzen, MLA for Steinbach made that comment in response to the fact that 11 cases of COVID-19 have been identified at schools in Manitoba.

On Tuesday evening, a letter was sent to parents and caregivers that students in several grades at John Pritchard School in Winnipeg would begin learning from home on Wednesday. As of Wednesday morning, the total number of cases connected to that school is seven. This has resulted in remote learning for several grades.

That school says that public health expects that remote learning will go for two weeks, but may be lengthened or shortened as the investigation continues.

According to the school, if parents and guardians have not been contacted by public health officials, and if their children are not in any of the groups listed, then the child has not been identified as being exposed to COVID-19.

Parents and guardians are reminded to monitor their children for symptoms and get tested as soon as symptoms appear.

This example of how quickly things can change for some cohorts or grades is a reminder of what could just as easily happen at schools in Steinbach and area.

"Whether that's keeping your son or daughter at home because they are demonstrating symptoms when you might otherwise have sent them to school, or this kind of a scenario where it happens quickly, we are living in a pandemic and so things are going to be different," stresses Goertzen.

And, Goertzen says this sort of thing is being felt across Canada. In fact, as of Wednesday morning, there have already been at least 450 COVID-19 cases identified in schools throughout the country.

"Clearly this is something that every province, every school division and virtually every school is dealing with in some way or the other," he says.

Manitoba's Chief Provincial Public Health Officer says the presence of COVID-19 in school aged children in Manitoba did not only start once kids headed back to school.

"We saw cases in all these age groups before we were back in school," says Dr. Brent Roussin.

"We knew there would be cases in schools; our schools are part of the community," adds Goertzen.

So, how can parents talk to their kids about the pandemic and how to stay safe in school without creating fear at the same time? Goertzen says one thing all parents have struggled with is the idea of when is too much information too much.

"It's somewhat dependent on the age of your individual child but certainly I think that parents should be expressing to their students that they should be following the guidance that they are getting within the schools," stresses the Education Minister.

Goertzen says there is a lot of information, but parents should take into consideration the age of their child, and how much information they need to know without creating fear in their children. He notes there are provisions in place that might not always make sense to a student, but are there to protect them and should be followed.

Dr. Roussin says sticking to the fundamentals of hand washing and distancing is important, and following those practices have proved to have worked in Manitoba schools where there have been cases. John Pritchard School is the first Manitoba school to have reported community transmission within its walls. Roussin says none of the cases in the school displayed symptoms while at school but did later during testing.

"Within the cohort, we have seen multiple cases," says Dr. Roussin. "Masks were in use. I believe in the classroom there was the one-meter distancing."

The province says school divisions are responding quickly to new challenges and understand that parents have questions about how the new procedures work.

Like what Manitobans are seeing at John Pritchard School, cohorts can be sent home to do remote learning in instances where there are COVID-19 cases inside the grouping.

Goertzen says if a student contracts COVID-19, the cohort the student is in automatically is advised to start remote learning instead of in-classroom learning.

Many parents are wondering if their student is sent home to do remote learning if they need to stay home too.

"A contact of a contact is not considered a contact," says Dr. Roussin. "When we are talking about being contacts for a case of COVID, the only people really required to self-isolate are those who public health has specifically advised to self-isolate. "

Dr. Roussin says households do not have to isolate if a student does not have COVID-19 but is told to do remote learning.

When a school enters the Orange stage of the Pandemic Response System, as John Pritchard School is, Dr. Roussin says extra precautions will be taken.

When a school enters Orange, Dr. Roussin says students will continue to attend school, but with two-metre distancing for elementary school grades. Remote learning will be used for those in Grades 9 through 12.