Keep COVID-positive students home, clarifies Department of Education
CBC
The Department of Education says students and school staff who are COVID-19-positive should stay home, even after the province lifts isolation requirements, along with all other COVID restrictions, next week.
The department clarified its position Tuesday after a graphic issued by the Anglophone South School District, offering parents guidance on when children are too sick for school, created some confusion.
The graphic, which was created pre-pandemic but included as part of an email to parents March 4, tells them they can send their children to school if they have "a runny nose or just a little cough, but no other symptoms."
Chris Small, whose five-year-old daughter attends kindergarten in the greater Saint John area, posted the graphic on Twitter.
"Is your child COVID positive? Is your child displaying symptoms such as coughing and runny nose? Has you child not yet developed a fever? Congratulations! Your child is eligible for unmasked schooling where they can delight in transmitting a deadly disease to their friends!!!!!!" he tweeted.
Small told CBC he assumes school districts are acting in the best interest of students and staff and want to reduce transmission in schools as much as possible, but the Anglophone South School District graphic "doesn't state that."
"It very much implies that a COVID-positive kid should come to school so long as they only have those, you know, what you might call a minor symptom."
The messaging needs to be clear, Small said.
"If they intend to have COVID-positive kids stay home, they should just say that," he said.
"I don't know if that is the intention, though, because they also state in their messaging that attendance is important."
Department spokesperson Flavio Nienow reiterated that the lifting of restrictions on March 14 means New Brunswickers, including students and school staff, will no longer be required to isolate if they test positive for COVID-19.
"However, as always, students and school personnel are encouraged to stay home when they are sick to prevent the spread of communicable diseases in schools, including COVID-19," he said in an emailed statement.
"Public Health is still recommending students and staff continue to test for COVID-19 if they have symptoms and stay at home if symptomatic and positive.
"When COVID-positive, any citizen should stay at home as much as possible until they are feeling better and have had no fever for 24 hours," he added.
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