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November 15, 2020

When Do I Keep My Child Home?

Please note that while the province has removed some symptoms from the daily health check, if your child has a runny nose we ask that you discern whether that runny nose is simply a case of the sniffles (as is often true with younger children) or part of a larger flu/sickness they are experiencing. While we do not want children unnecessarily excluded from school, we also do not want students coming to school who are contagious and could likely make their classmates and teacher unwell.

The province has shortened the list of symptoms parents must screen their children for each morning before they send them to school. Originally, children with any of the up to 17 symptoms were expected to stay home. 10 of those symptoms have been removed from the list, including sore throat, runny nose, headache and fatigue. The current daily health checklist looks like this:

Please keep your child home if they have any of the following symptoms:

• Fever
• Chills
• Cough or worsening of chronic cough
• Shortness of breath
• Loss of sense of smell or taste
• Diarrhea
• Nausea and vomiting

Please keep your child home if

• they are taking medication to alleviate any cold/flu symptoms
• they have returned from travel outside Canada in the last 14 days
• you or your child are a confirmed contact of a person who tested positive for COVID-19

Finally, please note that if one of your children displays symptoms noted in the revised list above, you are not required to keep home siblings who are asymptomatic.

Click here for more information from Fraser Health on Covid 19 and back to school.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Dave Loewen
Superintendent