Regina schools told to assume majority, or all, COVID-19 cases stem from highly contagious variants

A parent and student in Regina say they're concerned about COVID-19 cases in schools, as divisions are now being told to assume the majority, or all, could involve coronavirus variants of concern. 

In the seven-day period from March 10 to 17, there were 28 COVID-19 cases reported in Regina schools.

Regina Public Schools said in a statement it was told to assume the majority of reported cases involve the more transmissible variants of concern.

The Regina Catholic School Division said it was told by public health officials that the Saskatchewan Health Authority is treating all cases in its schools as though they stem from the variants.

"I'm scared, to be honest. It's been very hard," said parent Randy dos Santos. "I've never had a panic attack before, [but] had my first couple in my life. … [I] just pray to God my kids don't get it."

Dos Santos has children in grades 5 and 7. Due to a shared custody arrangement, his children are going to class in person. He said he'd be in favour of Regina doing a localized lockdown over the variant cases, but he isn't confident the government will act. 

"I'm not feeling very safe," he said. "I'm not feeling that, as a health-care worker and as a parent, that this government cares that much about me. They seem to care about who voted for them and their own ideology over saving lives."

The province is not balancing the economy and safety well, he said, and he thinks Regina schools should transition back to Level 4 under the province's Safe Schools Plan, as they did on their own authority before Christmas break.

Dos Santos said he has always felt remote learning was the best and safest option for students, more so with the variant cases.  

"I think Regina specifically right now has never been in a more dangerous position."

More transparency needed: Regina student

Campbell Collegiate student Mercedes Phillips said she feels uneasy going to classes lately. The 15-year-old has a family member with pre-existing medical conditions, and she's concerned about asymptomatic transmission and spreading the illness caused by the coronavirus to them.

She said classmates at her Regina school typically behave as though case numbers are low, and there isn't a lot of distancing when students aren't being monitored by teachers. Phillips said for some it's simply a lack of information, and more needs to be done to teach students about COVID-19 and the coronavirus variants.

"Not having that education and not really knowing how dangerous variants are, I think, will be something that sets us back with all the work that we've done for [preventing] COVID-19 so far," she said.

The two Regina school divisions say they do not know which schools may have variants because that information is not being provided. The Saskatchewan Health Authority said in a Tuesday statement that it is up to the local medical health officers to "have discussions with schools regarding the nature of cases in their community."

The health authority said in Regina, the increasing community transmission of variants has already been publicly reported, and cases involving schools have been generally acquired through community transmission. 

It's a different case in Saskatoon, where two cases involving variants of concern were specifically identified at Willowgrove School by the SHA. The school's principal notified parents in an email dated March 15 that the March 12 cases were confirmed to involve coronavirus variants. 

Parents of students at Yorkton Regional High School and Davison School in Melville were also told of confirmed variant cases at those schools. The Good Spirit School Division moved nearly 1,000 students to online learning as a result.

The coronavirus variants are reported to be 70 per cent more transmissible than the original strain, according to the Saskatchewan Health Authority.

As of Wednesday, there were 135 confirmed cases involving variants in the province — 129 of the B117 variant, first detected in the U.K., and six inolving the B1351 variant, first found in South Africa. Of those, 121 cases are in the Regina area, which has another 264 presumptive variant cases. 

Make basic details public, student says

Phillips said she was surprised by the health authority's policy. She said she supports privacy rules to keep people's names from being revealed, but basic facts such as which schools have confirmed variant cases should be disclosed to divisions and schools. 

"I think that actually comes down to knowing how to handle the variants," she said. "If we just assume that every school has a bunch of variants, they might as well shut down all schools."

The province's chief medical health officer said more than 400 schools have now had at least one COVID-19 case — 89 high schools and 369 elementary schools. The bulk of the cases have been resolved, Dr. Saqib Shahab said. Currently, 68 schools have a case and 36 schools have multiple cases. Nine are currently listed as outbreaks. 

"For the most part, you have a child who may have gotten exposed in a household, feels unwell, gets tested — and if the child was in school two days before feeling symptomatic … it's considered a case in school," Shahab said during a Tuesday news conference.

The school cases reflect community transmission, he said, but health officials are monitoring transmission in Regina and whether more action may be needed in the future.