COVID-19 exposures: 184 Lower Mainland schools on health authority lists
The number of COVID-19 exposures in Lower Mainland school continued to climb this week, even as caseloads showed signs of declining province-wide.
As of Friday, there were 184 schools listed on the public exposure notification websites for Fraser Health and Vancouver Coastal Health, an increase from the 167 that were listed as of last Friday.
The vast majority of the exposures listed are in the Fraser Health region, where health officials imposed new restrictions on some communities with higher rates of infection and lower rates of immunization late last month.
Fraser Health's website showed 175 schools with exposure notices over the last two weeks, many of them with multiple exposure dates listed.
B.C. health authorities post public notifications about exposures in schools whenever a student or staff member attends school while infectious and health officials believe there is an increased risk of COVID-19 transmission at the school.
Fraser Health removes schools from its list 14 days after the last date of exposure, meaning many - if not most - of the schools on the list this week were also listed last week.
Vancouver Coastal Health, meanwhile, removes schools from its list four weeks after the last date of exposure. Despite this longer timeframe, the website listed just nine schools on Friday, up from five the week before.
However, last week there were five schools in the health authority listed on the crowdsourced and parent-run BC School COVID Tracker that had not been added to the health authority's list. Some of those have since been added, and only one school added to the crowdsourced tracker over the last week was missing from the VCH list as of Friday.
Asked about the discrepancy between the two health authorities' lists last week, Fraser Health referred CTV News to the provincial Ministry of Health.
The ministry responded on Wednesday with a statement that read, in part:
"B.C.’s regional health authorities are all complying with the provincial health officer’s instructions to post potential exposure events on their websites 'if a person (staff or student) attended school while infectious, and there is increased risk of COVID-19 to the groups they were a part of.'"
"It’s important to note that risk level depends on many factors, including vaccine coverage and background rates of COVID-19 in the community," the statement continued.
The statement also noted that there is sometimes a lag between the notification of parents, teachers and students at a school and the public notification posted on a health authority's website.
"Web postings are for public awareness only, and are updated after an initial investigation is complete, and direct communication with affected individuals has occurred," the ministry said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Average hourly wage in Canada now $34.95: StatCan
Average hourly wages among Canadian employees rose to $34.95 on a year-over-year basis in April, a 4.7 per cent increase, according to a Statistics Canada report released Friday morning.
From outer space? Sask. farmers baffled after discovering strange wreckage in field
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
This iconic Canadian song is turning 50
Andy Kim's 'Rock Me Gently' is marking a major milestone, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Oprah Winfrey: I set an unrealistic standard for dieting
Oprah Winfrey said on Thursday evening that she has long played a role in promoting unhealthy and unrealistic diets.
Ontario family receives massive hospital bill as part of LTC law, refuses to pay
A southwestern Ontario woman has received an $8,400 bill from a hospital in Windsor, Ont., after she refused to put her mother in a nursing home she hated -- and she says she has no intention of paying it.
Toronto police called to Drake's Bridle Path mansion for another alleged intruder on Thursday
Toronto police say a man who allegedly attempted to access Drake’s Bridle Path property was taken to hospital on Thursday after an altercation with security guards.
Flat tire on a highway? Here's why you shouldn't try to fix it
If you're cruising down a highway and realize you have a flat tire, you may want to think twice before stopping to fix it on the side of the road.
Storm-battered U.S. South is again under threat. A boy swept into a drain fights for his life
Dangerous storms crashed over parts of the U.S. South on Thursday even as the region cleaned up from earlier severe weather that spawned tornadoes, killed at least three people, and gravely injured a boy who was swept into a storm drain as he played in a flooded street.
Broadcaster and commentator Rex Murphy dead at 77: National Post
The National Post is reporting that Rex Murphy, the pundit and columnist who hosted a national call-in radio show for decades, has died.