Data from the B.C. Government shows that COVID cases are continuing to increase among school-aged children.
As of this week, around 30 out of every 100,000 kids aged nine to 11 and 22 out of 100,000 kids aged five to eight are getting COVID in British Columbia.
Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, says while an infant and a toddler has died of the virus, there have not been any deaths reported among school aged children
“What we’ve seen is a dramatic increase in numbers of children, particularly school aged children, who are being tested for COVID-19 in the past three weeks since school started again,” she said, noting there are over 500 children being tested for COVID-19 in the province every day.
“Even though testing is going up, the percent positivity is decreasing in older children who are protected through vaccinated and in the zero to four year old age group. The one area that we’re seeing where that is still high is children aged five to 11 where its around five to 10 per cent.”
As announced last week, Henry said health authorities will once again be publicly posting any COVID-19 exposures in schools, after a reversal in policy. Exposures have already been reported at Juniper Ridge Elementary and at Aberdeen Elementary.
Henry’s comments came one day after the Vancouver School Board brought in a mandatory mask policy for all students in kindergarten to Grade 12, however don’t expect the province to expand that to include other schools.
“That daily symptom check, limitations in intermingling between classes in different grades, those are important factors, the ventilation that we have been paying attention to, the way classes are situated,” Henry added, noting she is confident there are efficient layers of protection in place.
“School aged children, some of them will be coming to school with COVID and I have tasked our school team that works together…to look at every individual situation, and particularly look at those communities where we have higher transmissions rates and lower rates to see what we need to do.”
Speaking during her weekly COVID briefing, Henry did say it is important for people to get vaccinated, if they are eligible.
“It shows you on a bit of a community level…where vaccination rates are low, rates in children and rates in adults are higher,” she added.
In other B.C. schools, masks are only mandatory for kids in grades four to 12 as well as in all adults.
Asked about a potential mask mandate for students in the Kamloops Thompson School District, Vice Chair Meghan Wade told NL News they have not deliberated the issue as a board and as such she was not able speak to the issue at this time.
– With files from Jeff Andreas
