COVID-19 exposures at Metro Vancouver schools not publicly available information for all

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — It is publicly available information for part of Metro Vancouver, but not all.

COVID-19 exposure alerts at schools are being handled differently by the region’s two health authorities.

Fraser Health – which is dealing with the majority of coronavirus exposures at schools in B.C. – has been getting kudos for posting the information online quickly for all to see.

Compare that to the criticism being leveled at Vancouver Coastal Health for only posting one COVID-19 exposure at Sentinel Secondary in West Vancouver, despite reports of cases and exposures at other schools in the area it covers – Vancouver, Richmond, and the North Shore.

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VCH has publicly stated it will only widely report that information if it can not directly notify everyone involved in an incident.

The difference was brought up during Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry’s briefing on Monday.

Henry suggested there may have been a miscommunication with VCH about the province-wide publication approach.

“We expect that Vancouver Coastal would adhere to what everyone else is doing, as well as our provincial standard,” she said.

#covid19 school exposure added late Tuesday.
Surrey indep K-12, Gorbind Sarvar.
Exposures Sep 17&18.
33 total in BC.
22 @fraserhealth
(2-Indep Surrey, 15-Surrey, 2-New West, 1-Delta, 2-Abby)
6 @VCHhealthcare
3 @Interior_Health
2 @Northern_Health #bcpoli #bced @NEWS1130 pic.twitter.com/OOAQFLPR5n

— LizaYuzda (@LizaYuzda) September 23, 2020

As of 6 a.m. Wednesday morning, there are 33 COVID exposures at schools in B.C. – 22 in the Fraser Health region and six in the Vancouver Coastal region.

For more back-to-school information during the COVID-19 pandemic, click here.

-With files from Liza Yuzda