Ottawa's top doctor concerned children are attending school while symptomatic with COVID

Ottawa medical officer of health Dr. Vera Etches speaks with reporters on Sept. 29, 2021.

OTTAWA -

Ottawa's medical officer of health is expressing concerns about children who test positive for COVID-19 attending school while symptomatic, and is urging parents to screen their children daily before going to school.

As of Wednesday, COVID-19 outbreaks have been declared at 12 schools in Ottawa, while St. Benedict Catholic School in Barrhaven has been closed due to COVID-19 cases.

Dr. Vera Etches told reporters on Wednesday that the latest monitoring indicators show Ottawa "is holding steady" when it comes to new cases of COVID-19, while hospitalizations are "relatively stable."

"More school-aged school are attending school in-person and more are testing positive than at this time last year, likely reflects higher rates in the community," said Dr. Etches, noting students have been in class for just over a month.

"And the number of outbreaks that we're seeing has not kept pace proportionally with the higher number of children testing positive, so this suggests that transmission in school is being limited with the measures in place. Still, we're monitoring trends and sources of exposure to consider if additional measures are needed."

Ottawa's four main school boards reported 112 active COVID-19 cases on Tuesday.

Dr. Etches says it's important for parents and caregivers to screen their children daily before school, to make sure symptomatic students don't attend class.

"What concerns me most is the percentage of children who test positive who have been in school while symptomatic, and the high number of high-risk contacts or close contacts that are happening within schools and across social networks," said Dr. Etches.

The medical officer of health acknowledges the increased demand for testing in Ottawa means people have had to stay home from school and work to isolate while waiting for appointments and results.

"We need to limit community transmission of COVID-19 from entering our schools, so parents and caregivers please continue daily screening of children using the Ottawa Public Health online screening tool," said Dr. Etches.

"Please follow the guidance from the screening tool, so if advised to don't send your child to school and then seek that testing right away."

The Ottawa COVID-19 Testing Taskforce and CHEO says they continue work to expand COVID-19 testing capacity in Ottawa, including opening a temporary pop-up clinic at McNabb Arena and expanding hours on weekends at the COVID-19 Care and Assessment Centres at the Ray Friel Centre and on Moodie Drive.

Last week, CHEO launched Do-It-Yourself Test Kits for parents at the Brewer Assessment Centre. Parents can schedule a time and date to pickup the kit, and then return it to the Brewer Arena for processing at a lab.

More than 150 schools in Ottawa are offering take-home tests for students and staff with COVID-19 symptoms or deemed to be a close contact of a confirmed case. Ottawa Public Health says the goal is to have take-home tests available in all schools within a week.

Etches says she's confident schools will remain open this fall.

"I'm confident that we'll be able to achieve our goal of keeping schools open this fall, just as I'm cautiously optimistic about the fall in general," said Etches.

"We're seeing right now we're holding things steady. What is important is to continue to think about the number of close contacts we have. The fewer social close contacts we have while we're trying to prioritize school the better, until we can see coming on the horizon the vaccination protection for children."

RAPID COVID-19 TESTING IN SCHOOLS

Ontario's Ministry of Health has ordered several agencies to stop supplying rapid antigen COVID-19 tests to parents, as some parents call for surveillance testing in schools.

In Ottawa, Regina Bateson, a parent of three kids, is pushing the province to improve access to rapid antigen tests.

However, Dr. Etches says Ottawa Public Health wants to use the "gold standard test" in schools to identify cases and high-risk contacts.

"What Ottawa Public Health is working hard with partners to make sure is that when a school-aged child or someone in a school community needs testing for COVID-19 because they have symptoms or because they're identified as a high-risk contact that they have easy access to that test," said Etches on Wednesday.

"In the scenarios we're talking about, where there's somebody who tests positive and the high-risk contacts need testing, the Ottawa Public Health position is we want to use the gold standard test – which is the PCR-based test so that we don't miss someone. With the rapid antigen testing, it's not as sensitive and so where someone is at higher risk of COVID we don't recommend that test."