NORTH VANCOUVER, B.C. -- When Upper Lynn Elementary School in North Vancouver emailed parents on Saturday to say there had been a COVID-19 exposure at the school last week, Craig Utian was concerned. Then, his son’s Grade 1 teacher sent a second email, saying she was the positive case.

”We were crossing fingers we were all going to be OK,” said Utian.

On Monday, his six-year-old son Andrew began feeling sick. His fever was so high, he was taken to Lions Gate Hospital. The boy’s COVID-19 test came back positive that night.

“His fever is down now, but he has a really sore throat, so a mix of Tylenol and Advil is keeping him comfortable,” said Utian. “But I think even for a six-year-old, it’s pretty stressful … This was such a punch in the gut.”

Andrew had been in close contact with his teacher two days before she tested positive.

“Obviously, we don’t know 100 per cent it came from her, and we are aware that another child who was asymptotic has also tested positive,” Utian said.

With a teacher and two of her students now positive, health authorities are calling it “possible transmission in the classroom” and have ordered the entire Grade 1 class to self-isolate until Christmas Day.

“We just know that we did everything we possibly could this year to avoid this,” said Utian. “If masks had been mandated in schools, this stress and anxiety we are having and that potentially other parents could be having, certainly in that class, could have been avoided.”

His call for mandatory masks in the classroom is being echoed by the Surrey Teachers’ Association. The union wrote a letter to provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, saying members don’t feel safe without a mask mandate.

“I think there is a belief kids can’t do it and it will create conflict, but we don’t have a lot of conflict between teachers and students,” said Surrey Teachers’ Association Vice President Julia MacRae. “We care for each other, and kids can learn and accept the reason for wanting to wear a mask, and they do. So having a mask mandate would make it a little safer in schools.”

Education Minister Jennifer Whiteside says the issue is still being discussed, but it’s up to Henry.

“We are led by the evidence our provincial health officer provides in how we manage the different layers of protection,” she said.

When asked to respond to Craig Utian’s plea for masks after his son contracted COVID-19, likely in his Grade 1 classroom?

“I’m very sorry to hear that,” Whiteside said. “I don’t know that there is much to be said to a parent who is facing that situation.”

Andrew has an older brother in Grade 5 who also needs to quarantine through Christmas, along with his parents who are taking care of their sick son while trying to avoid getting COVID-19 themselves.

“How do you isolate a six-year-old who wants to come down in the morning and check their Elf on the Shelf?” he said. “Obviously, Christmas is going to be very different. It would have been anyway.”

When Upper Lynn Elementary re-opens after the winter break, Utian isn’t sure his sons will return.

“My wife is questioning whether they even go back in January,” he said. “It’s very stressful, and we wouldn’t wish this on anybody else.”