118 schools on Lower Mainland COVID-19 exposure lists this week
There were 118 schools on COVID-19 exposure lists in the Fraser and Vancouver Coastal health authorities on Friday, a slight increase from the previous week, but well below the average for the school year so far.
All but nine of the schools with recent exposures were in the Fraser Health region.
CTV News Vancouver's weekly tracking of school exposure notifications posted on the Fraser and Vancouver Coastal health authority lists.
Schools are added to the lists when a student or staff member tests positive and officials believe there is a risk of ongoing transmission to other members of the school community.
Fraser Health removes schools from its list two weeks after the last exposure date, while Vancouver Coastal Health removes schools four weeks after the last exposure date.
Exposure notifications are not posted for every case of COVID-19 associated with a school community, and schools are not added to the health authority lists until after close contacts have been notified directly by public health officials.
COVID-19 vaccination for children ages five to 11 began this week in B.C. As of Monday afternoon, more than 108,000 of the roughly 350,000 children in that age group had been registered to receive a first dose.
The vaccination effort comes as the province and the world brace for the potential impact of the concerning Omicron variant, which has a high number of mutations, though experts remain uncertain how those mutations affect transmissibility, severity of illness and possible vaccine resistance. https://bc.ctvnews.ca/b-c-confirms-1st-case-of-omicron-covid-19-variant-1.5687128
B.C. confirmed its first case of Omicron earlier this week.
The Delta variant remains the dominant strain of the coronavirus in B.C., and provincial health officials have blamed it for increasing the median number of infections seen in school clusters this school year.
As of an update provided by provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry last month, approximately 12 per cent of schools in the province had seen a cluster of COVID-19 cases with evidence in-school transmission.
Children under age 12 account for approximately 20 per cent of B.C.'s COVID-19 cases, despite representing just 10 per cent of the province's population, though Henry says studies by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control have found that most cases among children in that age group are acquired in the community or at home, rather than in the classroom.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction overturned by N.Y. appeals court
New York's highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction, reversing a landmark ruling of the #MeToo era in determining the trial judge improperly allowed women to testify about allegations against the ex-movie mogul that weren't part of the case.
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that is banned at Queen’s Park.
CTE: Researchers believe widespread brain injury may contribute to veteran suicide rate
Researchers are working to better understand if some Canadian military veterans may be suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE -- a disorder previously found in the brains of professional football and hockey players after their death.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
New deep-water channel allows first ship to pass Key bridge wreckage in Baltimore
The first cargo ship passed through a newly opened deep-water channel in Baltimore on Thursday after being stuck in the harbor since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed four weeks ago, halting most maritime traffic through the city's port.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.