The Delta Teachers’ Association says the arrival of COVID-19 variants in local schools should finally prompt better safety measures and more COVID-19 rapid testing.
The association in a statement this week noted it is troubling that someone infected with the more easily transmissible UK variant of the coronavirus attended North Delta’s Hellings Elementary, but the school community wasn’t notified until about two weeks afterward.
The school community had an earlier notification by the Fraser Health Authority (FHA) that someone with COVID-19 attended the school on Feb. 2 and 4 but further testing revealed it was an exposure to the variant, a second notification that was issued last weekend.
“The fact that this variant was identified significantly after the potential exposure time—it was identified after the COVID case(s) from early February but only identified and brought to public attention on February 20th—is troubling because of the greater transmissibility potential of the variants,” the DTA stated. “This points to the need for more rapid testing to be available for staff and students at schools to rule out the variants. The Delta Teachers’ Association wants protections for the health and well-being of all Delta educators, as well as Delta students and the community.
“We know that teachers and staff are working hard to ensure that they are following safety protocols. However, the availability of rapid testing would both ease anxiety and be proactive to preventing the spread of the virus. To that end, the DTA is calling on the province to enhance safety protocols with a greater mask-mandate for schools, smaller class sizes to enable adequate physical distancing and more testing.”
The B.C. Teacher’s Federation conveyed a similar message, saying that when there is a high rate of COVID-19 within a community, a school district should be able to make regional or site-based enhancements to the safety protocols.
Those enhancements could include mandating masks everywhere in specific schools, including elementary schools, and making changes to schedules.
The FHA also confirmed several Surrey schools had exposures to the variant and that rapid testing was on-going for students and staff.
A rapid test will indicate whether someone contracted COVID-19 as well as a variant, although another test, which takes longer to get results, is required to indicate exactly which variant is involved.
The FHA noted no one else appeared to have contracted the variant at Hellings and that COVID-19 transmissions remains low in schools due to “robust” safety plans.
The health region also said it is proactively implementing “new, aggressive actions immediately” to respond to increasing COVID-19 cases in the region, including variant cases.
