NS Schools won’t release COVID cases in classes

Dr. Robert Strang. Photo Communications Nova Scotia

The province’s top doctor says staff and students are welcome to share their COVID status, but schools won’t aid in getting the word out.

Dr. Robert Strang says the omicron variant is so widespread that there is little value in providing contract tracing.

“The risks of relying on being notified and then the false assumption that if you’re not notified, you’re somehow not at risk just don’t work anymore with the widespread of omicron,” said Strang.

While he recognizes the change is a significant psychological shift that will cause anxiety for some staff and parents, Strang says previous attempts at contact tracing have shown they may cause more harm than good.

“What we learned when we were doing this close contact tracing in November and December, particularly, was that doing that close contact tracing and then the subsequent isolation of people who were identified classroom contacts was incredibly disruptive to our school system and to families. So, we’re not going to be isolating people anymore.”

During Wednesday’s COVID briefing, Strang was asked why school officials have been told they are not permitted to share COVID cases.

Strang says it’s up to individual parents and teachers if they want to share their own personal information and schools would not distribute that information to protect the privacy of the people involved.

But he insisted reports of school officials being told not to share information is untrue.

“In fact, that is misinformation that’s been put out there by various groups that there’s somehow a ban or a gag order. That’s not true,” said Strang. “However, the school system and individual teachers need to be aware that there’s legislation that governs how somebody else’s personal health information is actually disclosed.”

Strang was provided with a copy of a letter issued to parents by a principal in which the principal says they have been specifically told they are not permitted to share COVID information with the school community.

Strang responded that is not the message that has come out of discussions he has had with education officials over the past few days.

“That has been clarified and that is not actually the appropriate phrasing and language that has been most recently shared with school administration.”

How the message has been clarified was not identified as the update was cut off abruptly following Dr. Strang’s response.

A series of follow up correspondence with the South Shore Regional Centre for Education, the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and the Department of Health and Wellness all confirm the information provided by the principal was accurate.

The official policy from the education department echoes earlier comments from Dr. Strang that teachers and parents are free to share their own personal COVID information if they choose, but school administration will not make that information public.

The latest COVID numbers from public health show three more Nova Scotians have died, 11 people have been admitted to hospital and five have been discharged.

Strang says while public health is moving away from rigorous contact tracing, how people prevent the spread of COVID-19 remains the same.“The message for everybody is get vaccinated, follow all the personal protective measures, especially and if you’re sick with new cold and flu-like symptoms stay home,” said Strang. “That message doesn’t change just because somebody has been a close contact.”

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