Parents now have somewhere to go to find out about COVID-19 in Tri-City schools thanks to a crowd-sourcing website tracking the information.
And already, one Coquitlam school has been identified as having a COVID-19 case or cases over a two-week period since the beginning of school.
And on Friday (Sept.24), a Port Coquitlam school was added to the list.
The website — BC Covid Tracker — was established last year by Richmond mother Kathy Marliss to provide information not available in some health authorities.
It’s become useful again as health authorities are not publicizing information about cases in schools, although clusters and outbreaks are being reported.
According to BC Covid Tracker, Panorama Heights Elementary in Coquitlam has been identified as having an exposure for seven days over a two-week period (Sept. 7-10 and 13-15).
As well, French public school École de Pionniers de Maillardville was cited as having an exposure for four days last week, Sept.13-16. The school is located in Port Coquitlam and serves French-speaking children.
The website states the information came from a letter sent by Fraser Health to a family.
Originally, notification to families was limited to those affected and outbreaks or clusters. But this week Dr. Bonnie Henry said families would be notified of cases at their schools.
The goal is to notify schools in a “timely, less intrusive and more sustainable way,” she said Tuesday (Sept. 22).
“I do want to reassure you that if your child has COVID, if your child has been exposed to somebody with COVID in the school system, you will be notified.”
Currently, the website shows hundreds of schools with COVID-19 cases throughout the province.
But with the Tri-Cities’ high vaccination rate, cases aren’t as common in School District 43 (SD43) schools, according to the website.
The information comes as health authorities promise to provide parents with more information about school cases and one B.C. school is closed to in person instruction.
Today (Sept. 23), Fraser Health sent out a news release stating that it has declared a COVID-19 outbreak at Promontory Heights Elementary in Chilliwack after 20 lab-confirmed cases were identified among staff and students.
It’ll be closed to in-person instruction while Fraser Health undertakes case and contact management, the release stated.
Fraser Health is collaborating with the school and Chilliwack district (SD33) as part of the outbreak response.
Meanwhile, in the Tri-Cities, COVID-19 cases appear to be dropping as vaccine rates rise. Currently, the Tri-Cities hold an 83.2 per cent rate for two doses jabbed in the shoulder of eligible residents aged 12 years and older.
The Tri-Cities recorded 111 cases of the virus between Sept. 12 and 18 — the latest Geographic Distribution of COVID-19 by Local Health Area of Case Residence data provided by the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC).
This represents a 33 per cent decrease week-over-week compared to the previous tally of 165 between Sept. 5 and 11.
- with files from Kyle Balzer, Tri-City News, and Cindy E. Harnett, Times Colonist
