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A Toronto school principal has sent an email to parents to clarify the real story about the COVID situation at her school, after media outlets reported that Toronto Public Health was conducting “public health investigations” at almost two dozen schools.
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Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a Catholic school in midtown Toronto, was one of 23 schools included in a news release sent out by TPH, which was subsequently reported on in the news.
But the release was ambiguous as to what exactly was spurring these investigations, which TPH simply said would result in them connecting “with all close contacts.”
When it comes to at least this one school, the case in question apparently had little to do with the school environment and was identified before the school semester even began.
“This morning, CBC released an article that included a list of schools where a positive COVID-19 case has been confirmed. This case, a 12-month employee, was prior to the return to school,” wrote Kathy Banfield, the principal of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, in an email to parents that was seen by the Toronto Sun. “I hope this clarifies any misunderstanding with the article.”
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Such misunderstandings are far from new. However, the sheer volume of data released and news stories compiled about COVID-19 and schools has led many parents in Ontario to mistakenly believe the virus has spread far more in classrooms than is actually the case.
Even after schools were closed in Ontario in the spring, provincial and regional medical officers stressed that in-class transmission was not in fact the reason for the school closures and was hardly happening at all.
“(Someone who tested positive) may have been in the classroom a day or two before and then those cohorts are put into self-isolation status,” Dr. David Williams, Ontario’s top doctor at the time, explained at a news conference during the spring. “We have seen very few go on in those groups to develop signs and symptoms and positivity in testing.”
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Part of the challenge is the way the Ontario government reports school data. The province has an online database with the headline “COVID-19 cases in schools,” which can give the false impression that these are cases acquired in schools.
The database only provides the number of people who have tested positive for COVID-19 regardless of where they acquired it, but who also showed up at school at any time 14 days prior to the test. It does not report on actual spread within schools.
It may be that in the weeks ahead, there will be more principals throughout Ontario who find themselves working diligently to assuage parental concerns about what’s really going on in their schools.
COVID case reported in the news from before start of school: Principal - Toronto Sun
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