Alberta not changing symptoms list for kids in school: Hinshaw

EDMONTON (660 NEWS) – Alberta’s top doctor said the province isn’t ready to follow B.C.’s lead in removing some symptoms from the COVID-19 watch list for children.

Health officials in B.C. recently removed several symptoms, including runny nose, abdominal pain and skin rash saying they’re not considered reasons on their own for children to miss class.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw said it has been a topic of discussion here in Alberta.

“I think in Alberta, we are not far enough along yet to know whether or not we can take some of those symptoms off of our lists without increasing the risk that COVID-19 could be introduced to the school.”

Hinshaw added that health officials are still working on the right balance between keeping kids in school and making sure their learning is as smooth as possible while minimizing the spread of the virus.

Some of the items on Alberta’s list of symptoms include fever, cough, runny nose, fatigue and pink eye.

A total of 10 symptoms were removed from the list by B.C. health officials, leaving just seven symptoms parents need to watch out for.
Currently, Alberta has 81 active alerts within schools where one or more students attended while infectious.

A total of 126 cases are linked to those schools and only three per cent of the schools in the province have had any exposure at all. Only three per cent of those schools have seen possible transmission of the virus.

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