Manitoba schools to no longer provide notification of COVID-19 close contacts
CTV
Manitoba schools will no longer provide close contact notification or letters on individual COVID-19 cases in school, a change the province says is required due to the emergence of the Omicron variant.
Manitoba schools will no longer provide close contact notification or letters on individual COVID-19 cases in school, a change that the province says is required due to the emergence of the Omicron variant.
Education Minister Cliff Cullen, along with Dr. Brent Roussin, chief provincial public health officer, made the announcement during a virtual news conference on Thursday.
“We know that the Omicron variant is different, and we’re dealing with a different virus,” Cullen said. “We must shift our case management and how contact tracing occurs.”
“We know COVID is here with us. We know it’s going to be here for the foreseeable future, and we’re going to have to not consider that we’re going to eliminate this virus; we need to find ways to mitigate our risk related to this virus,” Roussin said.
He later added, “We have to adapt to working, learning and living with the COVID that is circulating in our communities at this point.”
According to the province, schools will now provide reports of absenteeism through the regular notification channels to the school community and will monitor staff and student absenteeism and self-reported COVID-19 cases. If there is increased COVID-19 activity based on absenteeism, case counts of operational concerns, public health will investigate and provide recommendations.
If increased COVID-19 transmission is occurring in a school, a period of rapid antigen testing or other preventive measures in school, such as reducing higher-risk activities, may be recommended. If transmission continues to increase, or where COVID-19 cases are affecting school operations, a seven-day period of remote learning for the class, cohort or school could be recommended by public health.
