Guess Who?: York Region school boards nix positive COVID-19 notifications in schools

School boards mandated by the province to report daily student absenteeism

Thestar.com
Feb. 28, 2022
Amanda Persico

Playing Guess Who is a family favourite for all ages. Does your character wear a hat? Does your character wear glasses?

Now, parents with children in both public and Catholic schools across York Region will be doing the investigative work at home to discover if there was a positive COVID-19 case in class.

Does your classmate have a runny nose? Does your deskmate have a cough?

Starting Feb. 28, York Catholic parents will not be notified if there is a positive COVID-19 case in their child’s class or cohort.

Reporting individual classroom cases was an interim measure put in place by the York Catholic District School Board once public health stopped providing PCR testing for the general public.

The Catholic board is following the public board, which hasn’t reported individual classroom cases since January.

Both school boards are mandated by the province to report daily student absenteeism and work with public health once attendance drops below 70 per cent at an individual school.

Also starting Feb. 28, unvaccinated students travelling with fully vaccinated adults are not required to stay home from school for 14 days. Students can return to school as long as they pass the daily provincial screening tool.