Parents face the anxiety and ripple effects of pandemic schooling as COVID-19 cases inch up

Some parents in Ottawa are anxious and frustrated as the number of people at schools testing positive for COVID-19 inches up, huge lineups persist at testing centres and some must stay home with children who have been ordered to self-isolate. The number of COVID-19 cases at Ottawa schools is relatively tiny — as of Thursday 21 people had tested positive at 15 schools. However, the ripple effect of public health rules for pandemic schooling is hitting many families. Ottawa’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Vera Etches, warned on Thursday that children who have any potential symptoms — including a runny nose — should be tested to help to keep everyone safe. A child might simply have a cold, but COVID-19 must be ruled out, she said on CBC radio. The symptoms can be similar. “That helps us make sure that people have the right treatment,” Etches said. “It helps us make sure that we are able to trace back and control transmission that might get into a long-term care home, for example, and it helps us inform the rest of the population about the risk level.” At the same time, as families faced another day of hours-long waiting lines at testing centres, Etches emphasized that “the whole household doesn’t need testing when one person has symptoms of illness. The rest of the household doesn’t have to line up.” The rules around testing and self-isolation are complicated for parents trying to navigate them. Brynna Leslie has faced two of the most common situations confronting parents. The day after her eight-year-old daughter started school at Montfort elementary on Sept. 3, she and one brother woke up feeling congested. Leslie thought it was probably just allergies but kept her daughter home from school and both kids got tested. They were negative. Then, on Sept. 13, a public health official phoned to say Leslie’s daughter had been in close contact with someone at school who had COVID-19. Leslie was told her daughter would have to self-isolate at home until Sept. 23 — 14 days after she was exposed. That means only venturing as far as the backyard. The entire Grade 3 class was sent home, said Leslie, and given assignments to do online. “I feel so frustrated,” she said. Leslie had already cut her consulting work down to part-time hours to help her kids do emergency learning at home after the pandemic closed schools last March. She knew there was a risk sending her daughter back to in-person classes, but saw a “glimmer of hope” because the school is the “gold standard” for COVID-19 protection, she said. Her daughter’s class only has 17 students, with room for distancing, and all of them wear masks, even though it’s not mandatory until Grade 4. The building is relatively new, with good ventilation, and school administrators were following safety protocols, she said. The secondary school her two sons attend — Louis Riel — also seemed safe, and high schoolers only attend in-person classes part-time, she said. One of her sons has an art class with only seven students, and they have done lessons outside. The family also received a letter from public health this week warning that someone at Louis Riel had COVID-19. Her sons were not close contacts so do not have to stay home. “If it can get into their schools, it can get into all the schools,” said Leslie. “As long as the community cases are high, I think we can expect all schools will have cases and be prone to disruption.” Now she and her husband are having intense conversations about who will oversee their daughter’s online schooling during her self-isolation. Leslie said she’s privileged to be able to work from home and not fear losing her job. They have been vigilant about following public health advice and have kept their social bubble confined to their own family, said Leslie. But when she was driving the boys to school this week, it struck her how little control she has over the situation. “I’m pretty calm. I’m pretty optimistic and happy in my own life. But when I was driving I drove past one long-term care institution, my daughter’s schoo and a daycare that are all under institutional outbreak right now, and I thought I was going to have a panic attack. “I just thought, ‘Oh my God! COVID!’ I called my friend and we kind of laughed about it and she talked me down. I am getting kind of these waves of anxiety. It’s just natural I guess because you can’t control anything.” In other pandemic schooling news Thursday: Cases at schools inching up The Ottawa Catholic School Board has reported its first cases, affecting three schools. One student each at Holy Cross and Monsignor Paul Baxter elementary schools have COVID-19; two students have tested positive at St. Leonard elementary. At Ottawa’s four school boards, 21 people have been identified with COVID-19 at 15 schools, according to the daily provincial update on Thursday. Most of them are at French-language schools, which returned to classes earlier. The Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est has 12 people associated with nine schools with COVID-19. That includes three students at Franco Ouest intermediate school and two students at Saint-François-d’Assise elementary. The board is the largest French-language school board outside Quebec, with 26,000 students in both Ottawa, surrounding rural communities and cities including Brockville, Kingston, Pembroke and Trenton. The Conseil des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario reported five people with COVID-19 at three schools. That includes two people at De La Salle high school, two at Gabrielle-Roy elementary and one at Louis-Riel secondary. That board has 17,500 students and also includes rural areas outside Ottawa. Across the province, 62 people have tested positive for COVID-19 at 51 schools. That means about one per cent of Ontario schools have reported a case. Transport companies had requested mandatory masks to help ensure the safety of students and drivers, the board said in a post.