N.B. COVID-19 roundup: Some schools to stop notifying families of positive cases
CBC
Some New Brunswick schools will no longer be notifying families about positive COVID-19 cases, according to a message sent by the Anglophone East School District on Monday.
Instead, Anglophone East will post any results it receives on its website daily, and it is now the responsibility of families and staff to check the site for reported cases at their schools.
It's not immediately clear whether all the anglophone and francophone school districts in the province will follow suit. Department of Education officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
"With the increasing number of COVID cases, we are following the Public Health assumption that COVID is now present throughout our communities," Anglophone East acting superintendent Pamela Wilson said in the message to families. "This also means that it will be present in our schools."
All public schools have extended at-home learning for students until Jan. 31 under Level 3 of the province's winter plan, which took effect Friday at 11:59 p.m. for 16 days because of rising COVID-19 hospitalizations and cases.
As of Dec. 22, the latest figures available, 897 cases of COVID had been confirmed in 193 schools since the school year started.
Public Health officials won't be confirming positive cases as they did in the past, nor will they be doing contact tracing for school-related cases, she said.
"As a result, schools will no longer be sending notification messages home to families with each self-reported case."
If a student or staff member tests positive with a rapid test, they are now asked to notify their school principal.
"We will share any notifications we receive, to the best of our ability," Wilson stressed in bolded text, "so that they are included in a list of schools, found on the Anglophone East website."
The list will be updated each weekday at around 4 p.m.
Wilson urges families to "continually" monitor for COVID symptoms and to continue to follow Public Health's directions.
"Thank you for your continued co-operation and support," she wrote.
Health Canada has approved the first COVID-19 antiviral therapy in a pill form for home use.
This time next year, Joellah Fletcher plans to be prepping or taking her final exams to become a certified Red Seal carpenter.
East of the small village of Coutts, Alta., a stone’s throw from the border with the United States, Cindy Bosch’s day-to-day life looks much like it did a year ago.
For years, police have been on the front lines of mental health crisis calls in Toronto, but the city's police chief believes it's now time to rethink that approach.
One of Prince Edward Island’s last surviving Second World War veterans has died.
Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada has too much regulation and not enough investments in clean energy and technology — and he's making his most direct repudiation yet of his predecessor's environmental policies.
WARNING: This story contains distressing content, including racist, violent and antisemitic language.
A national Jewish advocacy organization is taking legal action against Manitoba's medical regulator over a complaint it made last year alleging a prominent doctor made antisemitic comments on social media.
A cat that went missing in a remote area of northeastern B.C. is finally back home with its family in Oklahoma, five months later.
It wasn’t clear trolleys would be a hit in Medicine Hat, but the Sunshine Trolley has wound its way into Hatters’ hearts.
More than 200 volunteers and politicians gathered in Etobicoke Saturday for the Daily Bread Food Bank’s holiday sort.
The rising cost-of-living has already made supporting a family difficult this year. But, the holidays can make staying on budget that much harder.
Strong winds across the Maritimes left thousands of N.B. Power customers without electricity on Saturday afternoon — and it could be days before all customers have their power restored.
Toronto police say they located a body inside a downtown Toronto home Saturday.