COVID Updates – Sept. 18, 2020
Dear MA Families,
We’ve recently received some updated information to share with parents. The first two items apply to all families at the school; we also have an update for our Elementary and Junior High parents – a new online screening tool from the Ministry of Health.
We expect to receive more updates next week regarding screening changes for our licensed programs (Toddler and Casa).
1. All Families: What if a sibling or parent is sick…
If a student goes home with a COVID-related symptom and they have a sibling in the school, the sibling also needs to go home. If it’s a non-COVID-related symptom, the sibling can remain at school.
If sibling A passes the screening in the morning and sibling B fails; they both stay home until sibling B (who failed) gets cleared by a negative test or after being assessed by a doctor. Sibling A can return to school if sibling B is cleared by a negative test or assessed by the doctor it is not a COVID related illness; sibling B needs to wait until symptom free for 24 hours.
This is the same for a parent. If the parent fails the screening, the children stay home until a negative test comes back or the parent is assessed and cleared by a doctor; if the parent is cleared, then the children can return to school.
2. All Families: Health Unit Decision-making trees
FYI: The Middlesex-London Health Unit has created three “decision-making trees” to help parents assess whether it’s safe to bring their children to school.
From the Health Unit:
If your child exhibits symptoms of COVID-19, it can be difficult to know if and when they can return to school. To determine when your child can return to school, the Health Unit has created three decision trees to answer the following questions:
- My child has failed the daily screen and cannot go to school. What should I do?
- My child has been tested for COVID-19. When can they return to school?
- My child has symptoms but did not get tested for COVID-19. When can they return to school?
Download the 3-page PDF of the three Decision Making Trees from the Health Unit’s website: https://www.healthunit.com/covid-19-schools#decision-making-trees
3. Elementary and Junior High: Updated COVID screening tool
The Ministry of Health released a new easy-to-use online symptom screening tool on September 17 that we encourage our Elementary and Junior High families, staff and faculty to use daily before arriving at school. It provides more clarity around symptoms that parents may see in their children but may not be COVID-related (ie. pre-existing conditions, seasonal allergies).
At the end of the questionnaire you will be provided a clear COVID-screen result.
Direct link to the screening tool on the Ministry website: https://covid-19.ontario.ca/school-screening/symptoms We’ve added this link to the Elementary and Junior High class pages under LINKS on the MA parent portal.
Toddler/Casa families: No changes to daily screening process… yet
We’ve asked our CCEYA contact if there are any changes to the daily screening process for our licensed program (Toddler and Casa) and are waiting on a response. Watch for an update next week. For now, please continue to use the current Toddler/Casa Daily screening and online forms before arriving at school.
FYI: MA COVID Parent Guides have been updated:
FYI: We’ve added the above items to our COVID Parent Guides:
- On the school’s website: September-2020-return-to-school-information/
On the MA Parent Portal under Resources/ September Return to School Information.