Ottawa parent creates school COVID-19 tracker
An Ottawa parent concerned with a lack of COVID-19 data in school has created a website to track cases.
Katya Duhamel is the creator of the Ottawa Covid Tracker. It’s an online tool for parents to self-report COVID-19 symptoms and cases in schools.
“I created it because I really feel that it’s crucial to be able to know if you child has been directly impacted or affected,” she tells CTV News Ottawa.
The mother of a six year-old has a background in data and I.T. and says she created the tracker as a way of sharing information,
“I created a simple tool that parents, educators, guardians can use to go and report if they have a suspected or positive case of COVID.”
The online tool is accessible to anyone here.
Duhamel says that no personal information is submitted, not even the teacher’s name. Parents enter the school, class, cohort, last day at the school attended, and whether the case is suspected or confirmed.
According to the website’s description, “Given that there is no longer public reporting, and that testing capacity is very limited through assessment centers, we have created this website as a temporary way for parents, schools and daycares to share information privately about Covid cases in the community.”
The province is no longer publishing information on COVID-19 in schools, but is sharing data on absences online, whether they are related to COVID-19 or not.
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board will launch a voluntary COVID-19 disclosure process for parents, students and staff later this month.
The Ottawa Catholic School Board says it will still notify families of a positive COVID-19 case in their schools, should they learn of them.
In a letter to families, the OCSB said that, starting Wednesday, if the school becomes aware of a positive COVID-19 test result via a rapid antigen or PCR test, families would be notified.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.