SURREY, B.C. -- The Surrey School District is once again breaking COVID-19 records with exposure notices issued to 19 different schools.

That’s the most handed out in a single day in any city since the pandemic began.

“We know that this is most acute in the areas where most of the schools are and right now where most of the transmission is happening and that is in the Lower Mainland and the Fraser and Vancouver Coast Health areas,” said Dr. Bonnie Henry the day before.

The provincial health officer has said keeping schools open is a top priority.

“As I noted last week, transmission in schools has been low, but have had many, many more exposure events from the adults and the students in our school settings,” said Henry.

She acknowledged that schools in the Lower Mainland have been hit hard in recent weeks and because of that, she’s appointed a deputy provincial health officer to manage and improve the situation.

Better communication to students, parents and teachers is one of the areas they will work on.

Schools were noticeably left out of the mask mandate Henry issued on Thursday.

The B.C. Teachers’ Federation reacted to the decision on Twitter.

“The Provincial Health Office has chosen not to mandate masks in schools even as they make them mandatory in other public spaces. We continue to say to teachers, wear masks. Work with your colleagues to create a culture of mask wearing. Model it in your classes,” wrote the BCTF.

Dr. Henry was pushed hard by reporters on the subject during her daily briefing on Thursday, but her position remained unchanged.

“Schools are not public, open spaces. You cannot go walk into a school. We have layers of measures of protection in place in schools and like I wouldn’t wear a mask sitting in my office, we don’t expect children to wear masks sitting at their desks all day long,” she explained.

Henry is also reminding students and parents to be mindful of mingling during pickup and drop off times at school as there has been transmission in those settings.

A full list of Metro Vancouver school exposures can be found here.