Author of the article:Jason Herring
Publishing date:Nov 14, 2020 •
Calgary Catholic School District offices in downtown Calgary.
PHOTO BY JIM WELLS /Postmedia
Alberta’s second wave of COVID-19 is forcing many students and educators to stay home.
In a letter to parents Friday, the Calgary Catholic School District said it now has nearly 6,000 staff and students isolating across its 118 schools due to the novel coronavirus. The isolations are the result of “approximately 200 positive cases.”
It’s a significant spike for the school district, which reported 3,877 staff and students isolating due to 137 positive cases one week ago. The division has 59,000 students.
The surge has led the CCSD to put a pause on all extracurricular activities, starting on Monday. Only regularly scheduled credit courses will take place in the district’s schools, a decision which will be re-evaluated “in a few weeks.”
“We must do everything in our powers to keep students, staff and families safe. It is our hope that this short-term sacrifice will help change the curve,” read the letter signed by chief superintendent Bryan Szumlas.
“Please continue to pray for all those impacted by COVID-19, especially our students and staff.”
The decision to halt extracurricular activities comes the day after the Alberta government announced a series of new public-health measures meant to buck recent COVID-19 trends, including a temporary, two-week cancellation of all indoor group fitness and non-professional team sports activities in regions including Calgary and Edmonton.
According to Alberta Health’s school status map, there are now 10 CCSD schools with five or more active COVID-19 cases, with an additional 10 reporting at least two cases.
On Thursday, Premier Jason Kenney said the province would not consider closing down schools as cases of the coronavirus rise across Alberta and within schools. Chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said there is little evidence of virus transmission within schools.
“When we’re looking at the cases in schools and school-aged children in particular, it’s a very small proportion. The last time we looked at that specifically, it was about six per cent of children who had acquired the infection in a school,” Hinshaw said.
“It does not seem to be the major driver of community transmission.”
There has likely been in-school transmission in 141 Alberta schools, Hinshaw said, with about half only recording one new case as a result.
At the Calgary Board of Education, there are now just under 2,000 students and 195 staff in isolation.
— With files from Brodie Thomas
Alberta’s second wave of COVID-19 is forcing many students and educators to stay home.
In a letter to parents Friday, the Calgary Catholic School District said it now has nearly 6,000 staff and students isolating across its 118 schools due to the novel coronavirus. The isolations are the result of “approximately 200 positive cases.”
It’s a significant spike for the school district, which reported 3,877 staff and students isolating due to 137 positive cases one week ago. The division has 59,000 students.
The surge has led the CCSD to put a pause on all extracurricular activities, starting on Monday. Only regularly scheduled credit courses will take place in the district’s schools, a decision which will be re-evaluated “in a few weeks.”
“We must do everything in our powers to keep students, staff and families safe. It is our hope that this short-term sacrifice will help change the curve,” read the letter signed by chief superintendent Bryan Szumlas.
“Please continue to pray for all those impacted by COVID-19, especially our students and staff.”
The decision to halt extracurricular activities comes the day after the Alberta government announced a series of new public-health measures meant to buck recent COVID-19 trends, including a temporary, two-week cancellation of all indoor group fitness and non-professional team sports activities in regions including Calgary and Edmonton.
According to Alberta Health’s school status map, there are now 10 CCSD schools with five or more active COVID-19 cases, with an additional 10 reporting at least two cases.
On Thursday, Premier Jason Kenney said the province would not consider closing down schools as cases of the coronavirus rise across Alberta and within schools. Chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said there is little evidence of virus transmission within schools.
“When we’re looking at the cases in schools and school-aged children in particular, it’s a very small proportion. The last time we looked at that specifically, it was about six per cent of children who had acquired the infection in a school,” Hinshaw said.
“It does not seem to be the major driver of community transmission.”
There has likely been in-school transmission in 141 Alberta schools, Hinshaw said, with about half only recording one new case as a result.
At the Calgary Board of Education, there are now just under 2,000 students and 195 staff in isolation.
— With files from Brodie Thomas
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