OTTAWA -- For dozens of students in Ottawa, their time in the classroom is on hold, for now.

Seven-year-old Stella is among several students now isolating for two weeks after someone in her cohort at an Ottawa elementary school tested positive for COVID-19.

"I’ll miss my friends," she said.

"There may have been a risk of exposure like at recess," said her mom, Jocelyn Brown. "It’s not someone in her direct class but in her cohort so she’s deemed as a high risk for that reason."

Brown said she received an email from the school and a letter from Ottawa Public Health with the information and instructions.

Less than 30 students from her elementary school in the Ottawa Catholic School Board now have to stay home and have been provided with work so they don’t fall behind. The Ottawa Catholic School Board reports four classes at three elementary schools are closed.

"Her school’s quite small so I feel like this doesn’t bode well for the larger schools in the city either," said Brown, adding that since her daughter does not have symptoms, a test isn’t required right now.

"If she was to develop symptoms then obviously we would have to [get a test] and then at that point the rest of the family would also have to isolate."

Brown praises how quickly the information was communicated by the board and public health but worries about the long-term impact on families, including single parents.

"Even today I have to go pick up my son at school my husband’s at work and I’ve got Stella so what do I do right? I don’t know how sustainable this is going to be for families," Brown said. 

She also added she hopes the back-to-school plan will be revisited.

"It’s never too late to make some revisions that might be safer."