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ATHABASCA - It's the call parents are bracing themselves for these days, but hope to never get — someone in their child's class has contracted COVID-19.
Before that call is made though, Aspen View Public Schools (AVPS) is working behind-the-scenes to gather data and connect the dots as to who may have been a close contact with the new positive case, and make sure they are notified and both fortunately and unfortunately, school division staff have been getting it down to a science.
“There's actually quite a process that takes place that I don't think a lot of people are aware of, and the demands it puts on both divisions and schools,” AVPS communications officer Ross Hunter said Dec. 3, as he took some time with the Athabasca Advocate to clarify the process between when the school division gets the call of a positive case, to when the parents of close contacts are alerted.
When school returned in September, Alberta Health Services (AHS) would notify a designated contact in the event a positive case was detected. For AVPS, that was Supt. Neil O’Shea, but as the number of cases across the province grew, AHS has allowed a parent or guardian or staff member to notify the school directly.
“Because of that we can get notification from AHS, a parent, or an individual and there is the possibility that notification can go to the superintendent, it can go to the school principal, it could go to the teacher and frankly, go to anyone within the school system,” said Hunter.
Typically, he said, they will get a name and date of when the individual tested positive and when they were last in the school, which triggers a detailed workflow process AVPS has since developed.
As the first step, school administration works together to pull data — that includes schedules, class lists, attendance reports — and anything else that can help to make the determination of who is considered a close contact.
In a school setting, a close contact is defined as anyone who has been in a classroom with the individual for more than 15 minutes, regardless of where they sat in relation to the person who tested positive. Outside the classroom, anyone who was within six feet for more than 15 minutes meets the criteria.
"That's where we look at things like, where they were on their lunch break, where they were at any other places within the school where they may have been within six feet of others,” said Hunter. “Typically, what will happen is that the school administration will reach out to the positive case, and say, 'OK, we know you were in this class, we have your class schedule, we know who you were in the classroom with, is there anybody else who you were close to during lunches?' and things like that.”
If the individual rides the bus, anyone in a two-row circle around them is considered a close contact, and since everyone has assigned seating the transportation coordinator works with the busing contractor to identify the contacts and pass the information on to the school administration.
“The next step of the process is once the school has built that list, the school builds a team, and typically it's the school administration, and however many other school staff designated as assistants, and they contact each of those close contacts by phone,” said Hunter.
“And they're given a fairly specific message basically saying that you or your child has been identified as a close contact. The message generally is to stay home and then if they're a close contact, they’ll get follow up information from Alberta Health Services.”
While that is going on Hunter is drafting letters from AVPS to close contacts containing more specific information, like when the positive person was last in close contact, and how long they may need to self-isolate. A press release is then distributed after the notification process is complete.
Any additional measures, like deep cleaning at H.A. Kostash school in Smoky Lake where at least nine cases have been identified since September, are made at division level. Hunter said AHS may direct a division to take extra measures, but that has not happened yet for AVPS.
“At the end of the day, it's all about trying to keep our school communities, our staff and their students safe,” Hunter said. “And if (explaining) this process helps us to do that, if it helps to share that information about confirmed cases and identifying close contacts and making sure they're self-isolating, that's what's most important.”
