COVID-19 cases spiking in school-aged children, particularly in lower-vaccination areas: B.C. health officials
B.C. has recorded a dramatic increase in COVID-19 cases among school-aged children, particularly in areas of the province with lower vaccination rates.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry highlighted the spike in infections during a modelling presentation Tuesday, revealing there were 1,086 cases involving people under the age of 18 in the week ending on Sept. 23.
Of those cases, 658, or about 61 per cent, involved children between the ages of five and 11. There were 261 cases involving youths between the ages of 12 and 17, and 167 involving children under the age of five.
"We have seen an increase in numbers of children in each of those age groups who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in the last week compared to what we have seen over the course of the pandemic," Henry said.
But officials stressed that child hospitalizations have remained low, with just four people under the age of 18 being hospitalized over that same period. Only one of them, who was under the age of five, was admitted to critical care.
There were no deaths in any of those age groups, though Henry noted that one infant and one toddler died from COVID-19 last year.
"We've not seen any deaths in school-aged children, and we hope that will continue," she added.
The return to in-classroom learning this month has been a concern to many parents in the province, particularly as the highly contagious Delta variant dominates cases and as children under the age of 12 remain ineligible for vaccination.
On Monday night, the Vancouver School Board unanimously voted to implement its own mandatory masking policy for students in kindergarten through Grade 3, complimenting the provincial mask requirement for older students.
“There has been a lot of stress per the letters that we've been receiving, from parents of students who when the students come home they're faced with vulnerable family members as well,” trustee Allan Wong said at the vote.
Henry did not provide a breakdown Tuesday of the settings where children have been getting sick, but did share data showing the numbers were already beginning to increase rapidly in areas of lower vaccination prior to the start of the school year, particularly in the Northern Health and Interior Health regions.
"This reflects the vaccination rates in those communities and the fact that we were seeing (higher) transmission rates in those communities," Henry said. "And that of course affects families and affects children, and that has been translated to children in school settings as well."
Meanwhile, COVID-19 cases among children remained much lower in areas of high vaccination rates, such as the Vancouver Coastal Health and Island Health regions.
In the Fraser Health region, Henry said most of the children testing positive in the five to 11 age range live in eastern communities that have lower immunization rates.
Case numbers in the Fraser East local health area, which includes Chilliwack, Hope, Abbotsford, Mission and Agassiz, also prompted officials to impose new regional restrictions Tuesday, similar to those still in place in Northern Health and Interior Health.
Henry did note that school-aged children who catch COVID-19 are more likely to come from families where adults are not immunized. She also pointed to the measures currently in place to prevent on-site transmission in schools, including masking for older students and B.C.'s revamped cohort system.
"The most important thing we can do to protect our schools until we have vaccination for all school-aged children – and we're preparing for that s soon as we can – is to make sure that all of the adults and the older children in those settings are (vaccinated)," Henry said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
NEW After hearing thousands of last words, this hospital chaplain has advice for the living
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
BREAKING Police cordon off Iran consulate in Paris where man threatens to blow himself up: French media
French police cordoned off the Iranian consulate in Paris on Friday, where a man was threatening to blow himself up, Europe 1 radio and BFM TV.
Some Canadian families will receive up to $620 per child today
More money will land in the pockets of some Canadian families on Friday for the latest Canada Child Benefit installment.
BREAKING Iran fires at apparent Israeli attack drones near Isfahan air base and nuclear site
An apparent Israeli drone attack on Iran saw troops fire air defences at a major air base and a nuclear site early Friday morning near the central city of Isfahan, an assault coming in retaliation for Tehran's unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on the country.
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer denied bail after being charged with killing Canadian couple
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
Ottawa to force banks to call carbon rebate a carbon rebate in direct deposits
Canadian banks that refuse to identify the carbon rebate by name when doing direct deposits are forcing the government to change the law to make them do it, says Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.
Ontario woman loses $15,000 to fake Walmart job scam
A woman who recently moved to Canada from India was searching for a job when she got caught in an online job scam and lost $15,000.
After COVID, WHO defines disease spread 'through air'
The World Health Organization and around 500 experts have agreed for the first time on what it means for a disease to spread through the air, in a bid to avoid the confusion early in the COVID-19 pandemic that some scientists have said cost lives.
Prince Harry formally confirms he is now a U.S. resident
Prince Harry, the son of King Charles III and fifth in line to the British throne, has formally confirmed he is now a U.S. resident.