The New Brunswick Department of Education and Early Childhood Development says families will now have to report their child’s positive COVID-19 test results amid rising province counts.
In a statement sent by email earlier this week, a department spokesman told Global News “families are now required to report matters to their school as part of the knowledge of their close contacts as part of of Public Health’s updated testing and isolation measures. “
This is something that mother of three, Jenna Morton, said she understood. However, she said she felt the ambiguity of the policy worried her.
Read more:
Doctor accused of distributing COVID-19 launches lawsuit against NB, RCMP and Facebook
“I’m still not 100 percent clear, based on the district’s email what to expect,” she said in an interview Thursday. “Until we are completely back in school, I’m not sure how it will play out.”
Families, she said, may need to take on more responsibility, but it’s about proper communication.
“It’s in the community,” she said. “I think we’re getting to a point where we need to take more ownership of ourselves in terms of how we’re going to share the information about positive cases?”
However, the change is a shift in policy and a departure from the guidelines for Healthy and Safe Schools given in the autumn.
The document indicates that the regional chief medical officer of health will notify the department of confirmed COVID-19 cases according to the communication protocol, and that schools, principals and the districts will work with the department’s COVID-19 team to establish close contacts Identify.
That has changed, however, according to a letter the Anglophone East School District sent to parents on January 17.
Read more:
COVID-19: More than 400 NB health personnel isolated, 3 new deaths reported
Stephanie Patterson, a district spokeswoman, confirmed the changes had been made across all districts.
The letter said: “Please note that Public Health will not confirm positive cases as they have (in the past), nor will it conduct contact detection for school-related cases.”
The Department of Education has confirmed that families will be required to notify principals as part of contact with their close contacts if their child tests positive. It turned down a request for an interview with Education Minister Dominic Cardy.
The Department of Health said in an email that a fundamental transition in New Brunswick’s approach to COVID-19 management is needed to reduce the risk of transmission, conserve human resources, protect critical infrastructure and to protect our healthcare system. ”
It said that although “this group has been regularly prioritized in our approach to the management of COVID-19 given the need to ensure that this population is protected and supported during the duration of the pandemic,” it is not technically considered a vulnerable population is not considered.
Read more:
Promise NB improvements in mental health system are not coming fast enough
“Children and adolescents do not have the same level of risk for hospitalization as individuals in the vulnerable sector,” said Bruce Macfarlane, spokeswoman for the department.
Macfarlane said getting vaccinated is the best defense for eligible children.
“Getting your kids vaccinated will not only protect them from COVID-19 infection, it will also help us get back to the things we love sooner, such as school, sports and extracurricular activities,” he said. said an email.
“New Brunswick has more than 30,000 COVID-19 vaccine appointments available for all qualifying age groups this month and more are being added as the county moves to strengthen New Brunswickers’ ability to fight Omicron.”
View link »
© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Reference-globalnews.ca