According to figures posted online, more than 75 percent of the division’s 213 schools had more than 10 percent of their students out of class due to illness on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. On Wednesday, more than 20,000 Edmonton students were absent. The school board called an emergency meeting for Tuesday to ask provincial health officials for more clarity on how many children need to be sick before the province takes additional health measures. “We are not considering a mask mandate as we continue to believe that health-related decisions should be made by the chief medical officer of health and Alberta Health Services,” school board chair Trisha Estabrooks said in a statement sent on Wednesday. When a school reaches a 10 per cent sickness absence rate, it notifies Alberta Health Services, which will investigate whether there is an outbreak. Although it has previously released school case numbers by zone, Alberta Health Services will not release the data this week and referred questions to Alberta Health. Steve Buick, press secretary to Health Minister Jason Copping, did not respond to questions Wednesday or Thursday. Dr. James Talbot, assistant professor of public health at the University of Alberta, said the number of potential outbreaks in schools in Edmonton is well above normal compared to a cold or flu season before the pandemic. “That’s a number I’ve never seen before,” said Talbot, who served as Alberta’s chief medical officer of health from 2012 to 2015 and has extensive knowledge of tracking school outbreaks in the province. The increase in illness was predictable, Talbot said. Most babies and toddlers have not had much exposure to contamination in their lifetime. Many of their school-age siblings have been distancing themselves and hiding for most of the past two years, reducing their exposure. Now that most public health measures have been removed from schools, Talbot said there is an explosion of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), flu, colds, gastrointestinal illnesses and COVID-19 making the rounds. The risk, Talbot said, is for any child who is sick enough to need a bed in a pediatric intensive care unit. Rarely, these infections will make some children seriously ill, threatening access to the ICU for children being treated for cancer or suffering from a traumatic accident, he said. “If hospitals are to survive any kind of surge, where we’re going to have to fight that battle is in schools,” Talbot said. To avoid school closures, or a virus free-for-all, parents should get their kids vaccinated against COVID-19 and the flu and keep their kids home when they’re sick, Talbot said. Schools need to be stricter about sending children home with symptoms, improve their ventilation and temporarily mandate mask use to escape this wave, he said.
“It’s going to hurt a lot this winter”
Dr. Jia Hu, a public health physician who was the Calgary zone’s medical officer of health from 2018 to 2021, agrees that the number of Edmonton schools with significant sickness absence is above pre-pandemic norms. He said COVID-19 vaccination rates for children in Alberta are “abysmal” and booster rates for adults are low, as was the uptake of flu shots last year. Getting vaccinated is one of the best things families can do to protect themselves, she said. “We’re just experiencing a resurgence of respiratory viruses and it’s going to hurt a lot this winter.” Hu said he doesn’t think the public will tolerate mask mandates again. Sarah Zamburek is a health care worker with two children in Edmonton public schools. She and her husband are trying to work with children who are experiencing frequent cold and flu symptoms this fall. (Submitted by Sarah Zamburek) Some parents are already frustrated. Sarah Zamburek’s youngest son, in the first grade, has had cold symptoms and has been passing out for two months. He has missed at least a week of school. Her 5th grade son just missed a week with a respiratory virus. Zamburek, a health care worker, is disappointed that Premier Danielle Smith said there will no longer be masks in schools. He said it’s a simple step that could be so helpful during outbreaks. “I’m frustrated. I’m desperate. I feel like I’m pushing a rock uphill,” she said. “Winter hasn’t even started and we’re already in this situation.” Estabrooks said that after a recent Alberta court ruling, it’s unclear whether school boards are allowed to enforce their own mask mandates. Edmonton’s public and Catholic school divisions encourage but do not require the wearing of masks at school. Savannah Johannsen, acting press secretary for Education Secretary Adriana LaGrange, didn’t give a yes or no answer to that question, but said superintendents can take “operational measures” to protect students’ health.
Schools that remain on course
Some schools with large absences streamed their Memorial Day ceremonies online this week, as well as other events such as parent and teacher interviews. However, school departments reached this week said they did not plan to change infection control measures without direction from Alberta Health Services or the provincial government. Ponoka-based Wolf Creek Public Schools is among them. Superintendent Tim De Rooyk said a third of his 29 schools have exceeded the 10 percent absentee rate — higher than a typical drop, he said. Finding substitutes for sick teachers has been a problem, he said, with 23 unexcused absences so far in November. None of the boards contacted said they had plans to move courses online yet.
