A total of four cases of the novel coronavirus have been confirmed in the Lower Mainland but School District 43 isn't updating its disease-prevention information or taking any extraordinary measures.
SD43 spokesman Ken Hoff said the district relies on information from the province’s health and education ministries, and is not making its own statements on how families should help prevent illness.
This despite concerns raised that the provincial Ministry of Health is reversing its position on whether families coming from Hubei, China should quarantine themselves for 14 days.
In a Jan. 30 memo, there were no special requests to keep kids home if they had been in Hubei province, the epicentre of the disease, but that advice appears to have changed when the second case of coronavirus in Vancouver Coastal Health was confirmed onn Tuesday.
Since, then two more presumptive positive cases of novel coronavirus have been confirmed.
The confusion arrises from informaiton on the district's website posted Jan. 30.
It states: “The Ministry of Health has advised and confirmed that asymptomatic individuals returning from affected regions do not need to be isolated at home or kept home from school.”
But on Tuesday, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said families returning from the area should stay home and keep their children home.
“Given the changing dynamics of the outbreak in China and globally, and recognizing we are in the midst of influenza season, we ask anyone here in B.C. who has been in Hubei province to consider staying home and keeping their children home until 14 days have passed from their last visit to Hubei,” Henry said at a press conference.
“Monitor yourself and your children closely for symptoms, and if any symptoms arise, connect with your primary care provider, local public health office, or call 811. This is an important way to reduce the possibility of transmission of illness to others.”
The health ministry has not confirmed to the Tri-City News whether it plans to update its information to parents. However, at a press conference announcing two more coronavirus cases, Health Minister Adrian Dix said that people should use the same precautions they take to avoid spreading the flu, including keeping children home if they are sick.
SCHOOL CLEANING
SD43, along with other Metro Vancouver school districts, is relying on ministry information and advising parents and staff to take measures similar to what they would do to prevent the spread of the cold and flu, including hand washing, not touching the face, sneezing into tissue or the elbow, and staying home if sick.
And while SD43 is not placing hand sanitizers in schools, as Richmond School District is doing, it is reminding schools to keep soap dispensers filled and custodians are cleaning “touch points” to prevent the spread of illness.
So far, only a few parents have contacted SD43 about coronavirus concerns, the district's spokesperson said, but there are no plans to send out any new messages to families.
That contrasts with The Greater Victoria School District, which earlier posted a note to families on its website about the outbreak of a new strain of coronavirus, asking them to “not make assumptions about the risk of students or staff based on their ethnicity or travel history.”
The Victoria schools’ statement follow news last week of a petition calling for an Ontario school board north of Toronto to urge students who have recently returned from mainland China to “self-quarantine” for at least 17 days. In response, that district issued asking parents not to make assumptions about the risk posed by others.
PREJUDICE CONCERNS
In the larger community, some people are wearing masks in shopping centres in Coquitlam so they don’t get sick. The Tri-City News spoke to a few people at Coquitlam Centre and Henderson Centre malls who said they were wearing masks because of concerns about the coronavirus.
SUCCESS, which provides services to new immigrants, is also urging the public not to stigmatize individuals from Asia during this time of hyperawareness around the disease.
“I don’t think we should racialize this disease but [should use this time] as an opportunity to be united to combat the disease,” SUCCESS CEO Queenie Choo said.
In B.C., the latest official updates can be found on the BC Centre for Disease Control website.
As well, a new toll-free phone number has been established to answer questions from Canadians about the novel coronavirus: 1-833-784-4397.
— with files from the Richmond News, The Times Colonist and Burnaby Now
