This past weekend both the Regina Catholic School Division (RCSD) and the Regina Public Schools (RPS) changed the directions provided to families when a student is identified as a close contact of a COVID-19 positive case.
The new letter instructs families to get their child tested immediately upon learning they were in contact with a positive case and again on Day 10 of the mandatory 14-day isolation period.
Prior to the changes, students were told to isolate, but not instructed to get tested if asymptomatic. It is very good to see this increased testing of people who are potentially exposed, said Anne Huang, Saskatchewan s former deputy medical health officer.
REGINA As COVID-19 variants continue to spread in Saskatchewan, it remains unclear exactly how many confirmed and presumptive variant cases have been detected in Saskatchewan schools. The government confirmed 66 more variant cases Tuesday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 136. The Regina zone accounts for 122 – or 90 per cent – of the confirmed variant cases reported in the province. During the government’s COVID-19 update Tuesday, Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab said Variants of Concern (VoC) are 70 per cent more transmissible than the original strain of COVID-19. He said with the original strain, three out of 10 restaurant staffers would become symptomatic after a COVID-19 exposure. But with the B.1.1.7 variant, first found in the U.K., it would be 10 out of 10.
Posted: Mar 15, 2021 4:45 PM CT | Last Updated: March 15
Quintin Robertson, director of education for the Good Spirit School Division, said 17 classrooms at the Yorkton Regional High School were exposed to the COVID-19 variant. Seven teachers at Davison elementary school in Melville were deemed close contacts of a COVID-19 variant case.(Sofia Rodriguez/CBC)
Individuals at two schools in Saskatchewan s Good Spirit School Division have tested positive for COVID-19 variants of concern, prompting the division to move nearly 1,000 students to online learning.
Families with children attending Davison School in Melville and Yorkton Regional High School in Yorkton received emails on Sunday, letting them know classes were cancelled at both schools for Monday. As of Tuesday, students will move to online learning until March 23.
Photo by File Photo Multiple cases of COVID-19, including two variant of concern cases, have numerous classes around the Good Spirit School Division switching to remote learning. Grade 9 to 12 at the Yorkton Regional High School, the daycare and kindergarten class at the Dr. Brass School, all students in Grades 8C and 8DM, and Pre-kindergarten to Grade 6 at the Davidson School in Melville will all be moving to remote learning. All classes are tentatively scheduled to resume face-to-face learning next week on March 23, with the daycare at the Dr. Brass School scheduled for March 25. Quinton Robertson, Director of Education and CEO of the Good Spirit School Division, said that both the Yorkton Regional High School and the Davidson School had a variant of concern.
REGINA Two schools in the Good Spirit School Division (GSSD) have confirmed cases of COVID-19 variants of concern. All grades at Yorkton Regional High School and pre-kindergarten to Grade 6 at Davison School in Melville are moving to remote learning for the next week. It’s somewhat concerning in that we don’t have experience with [the variant] and it’s something new, Quintin Robertson, GSSD’s director of education, said. We’ve tried to take a measured approach, we have no experience with this, so we wanted to air on the side of caution. Robertson said with the help of local health officials, the school division has deployed rapid testing at both schools to proactively find any additional cases.