(File photo/paNOW News)

By Derek Craddock

SCHOOL OUTBREAKS

P.A. high school on list of latest COVID-19 outbreaks

Jan 12, 2022 | 2:16 PM

A Prince Albert High School has now been placed on the province’s COVID-19 outbreak list.

The Global Sports Academy at Carlton Comprehensive High School was added to the list as of Jan. 10.

The province declares an outbreak at a school when three or more people have tested positive in a classroom or cohort within 14 days and attended while infectious.

The government recently updated its school cases from Dec. 28 to Jan 10, with one other Prince Albert school, St. Catherine School, reporting a positive case; that was back on Jan. 5.

In that same time frame, three other outbreaks were declared at schools in Estevan, Wilcox and Moosomin.

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Despite this news, the president of the Saskatchewan School Boards Association said he’s not surprised.

“We were cautioned by Dr. Shahab that this would likely happen and now we’re dealing with that in concert with our medical health folks,” said Dr. Shawn Davidson.

Davidson said school boards have been doing the best they can to follow the public health measures put in place by the province.

While the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) agrees the outbreaks are not surprising, they still hoped the government would have acted sooner to lessen the burden.

“We had hoped that government would take a couple of days upon return from the break to ensure that measures are in place like cohorting and mask-wearing and different measures to ensure that the spread of Omicron is reduced and unfortunately the government decided not to do that,” said STF president Patrick Maze.

On Jan. 5, the STF released a statement outlining different measures they would like to see the government implement for schools. This includes providing n95 masks for students and staff, mandatory masks and proof of vaccination for all school activities, and reinstating the Education Sector Response Planning Team.

The statement was in response to the government’s decision to not delay the start of the new term after the Christmas break, something every other province did.

Maze added schools are dealing with more staff shortages and having to take care of contact tracing themselves.

“Teachers are not health experts, and, in many situations, we’ve been thrown into situations that we’re just not prepared for. I know that school administrators, principals and vice-principals have suddenly been burdened with contact tracing.”

The province has not introduced further restrictions or measures at schools but recently updated its isolation policy for positive tests and close contacts.

An outbreak on the government’s site will remain until a public health officer deems it as resolved.

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derek.craddock@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @pa_craddock