If you plan to send your child back to school for in-class instruction next week, then get ready to add a few minutes to your morning routine.
The New Westminster school district is advising families that parents and caregivers must assess their children daily for symptoms related to colds, flu, COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses.
If a student shows any symptoms, parents must keep the child at home until they’ve been assessed by a health-care provider to exclude COVID-19 or other infectious diseases, and until their symptoms have resolved.
The school district is asking parents to do daily checks for an extensive list of symptoms:
- Coughing
- Fever (temperature of 37.5C or higher) or signs of fever
- Chills
- Sore throat and painful swallowing
- Shortness of breath/difficulty breathing
- Headache
- Feeling unwell/fatigue
- Muscle aches and pains
- Stuffy or runny nose
- Loss of sense of smell
- Diarrhea
- Nausea/vomiting
- Loss of appetite
“If any of these signs and symptoms are present, your child is not permitted to attend school,” the school district said in a notice to parents.
In such cases, parents are asked to contact 811 for more information and have their child assessed by a health-care provider. If there is a confirmed case of COVID-19 in the household, students must also remain at home and families must consult their health-care provider.
If a child develops symptoms while at school, they will be moved to an isolation area and kept there until they can be picked up by a caregiver.
Families will be hearing details from their schools this week on what the return-to-class schedule will look like for their child. The return to in-class instruction remains optional; students can finish the school year with remote learning.
For all the up-to-date information, check out the school district’s information page at https://newwestschools.ca/phase-3-what-you-need-to-know/
