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BC’s health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, explained in detail how public health is handling COVID-19 cases in schools.

Health officer details school COVID-19 process

By Hannah Scott, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

Published 4:25 PDT, Thu October 1, 2020

Last Updated: 2:13 PDT, Wed May 12, 2021

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In response to ongoing questions, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry explained today what constitutes a COVID-19 exposure, cluster and outbreak in BC’s schools.

An exposure is when a single person is confirmed positive for the virus and has been in school during their infectious period. A cluster is when two or more people who are confirmed positive attended school. And an outbreak is where ongoing transmission occurs without clarity on who has been transmitting to who, as well as widespread transmission in school between classes or learning groups.

“Every time there is a school exposure, public health contact tracing kicks into gear,” Henry said. “Even if you have been in a school setting with somebody, you may not be a close contact, you may not be at risk of exposure yourself.”

Anyone who is at risk of being in contact will be contacted directly by public health, she said. In those cases, they are asked to self-isolate and stay away from others to break the chain of transmission. While there have been no outbreaks in BC schools to date, Henry said it is a possibility, as evidenced by other parts of the world.

“We do know our system is working because we are finding cases, we are finding smaller transmission events and we’re isolating people and preventing outbreaks from happening,” she said.

Henry also announced 82 new cases of the virus today, including one that is epidemiologically linked. There have been 9,220 cases in BC since the pandemic began.

There are currently 1,261 active cases and 3,093 people under active public health monitoring as a result of exposure to a known case. Sixty-nine people are in hospital, 19 of whom are in critical care. Sadly, there was one new death in the Fraser Health region, bringing that total to 235.

Yesterday, there were a record number of tests conducted across BC—more than 10,000 with a positivity rate of less than one per cent.

There was one new healthcare outbreak at the George Derby Centre longterm care home in the Fraser Health region. This is the second outbreak at the facility, and involves a single healthcare worker. There are 18 active healthcare outbreaks, 15 in longterm care or assisted living and three in acute care.

There have been new community outbreaks, but exposures continue and are posted online, including school exposures. Henry said social gatherings in private homes are still a major cause of COVID-19 transmission in BC, accounting for about a third of new cases. There are also transmissions occurring in workplaces, longterm care homes and hospitals.

Public health guidance is upcoming on Halloween activities including pumpkin patches and haunted houses.

“The basics will be the same: keeping it small,” said Henry.

Guidance around safely conducting Remembrance Day ceremonies is also upcoming, said Henry. She added people are asking about Thanksgiving and further ahead to Christmas, and recommended people reach out to loved ones virtually to support each other.

For a list of community exposure events, click here.

For the latest medical updates, including case counts, prevention, risks and testing, visit: http://www.bccdc.ca/ or follow @CDCofBC on Twitter.