The North Shore’s medical health officer addressed hot button issues including face masks, physical distancing and who needs to know if a school student gets COVID-19 during a virtual town hall this week.
Dr. Mark Lysyshyn, deputy chief medical health officer for Vancouver Coastal Health, answered questions sent in by parents to the virtual forum hosted by North Vancouver schools superintendent Mark Pearmain.
Lysyshyn was asked why it’s safe for children to go to school now when it wasn’t in March.
He said the closure in March was precautionary, because at the time, “We didn’t feel we had enough information.” Health authorities are confident the plans in place now will minimize the risk of transmission, he said, recognizing it can’t be eliminated entirely.
Lysyshyn added while numbers of daily COVID-19 case counts are currently high, that’s also a reflection that many more tests that are being done. Mostly likely “the true prevalence of COVID-19 is actually lower now than it was during the first wave,” he said.
Topics like whether masks should be made mandatory and if there’s enough distance between students in the classroom have been controversial topics as most students prepare to go back to school fulltime next week.
All students will be issued two reusable masks. Under provincial health officer’s guidelines, public secondary school students are required to wear masks in hallways and when they can’t keep a distance from those outside of their learning cohort. Elementary school students are not required to wear masks although they can choose to do so.
Lysyshyn said while masks are very visible and can be reassuring to people, they are still have limited usefulness in a school setting and may present as many problems as they solve.
“We don’t think masks are useful with the same group of people in the same physical space for a long period of time,” he said.
“We actually still have a lot of concerns about mask use in public,” he added.
Many times people don’t wear masks correctly, risk contaminating themselves while taking them on and off and touch their faces more while wearing them, said Lysyshyn. They also re-use re-wearable masks repeatedly without washing them, he said, which can be a problem.
“I have great concerns over whether the way people are using masks are really protecting them,” he said. “ . . . It may not be adding the level of safety you think it is.”
Lysyshyn said similarly, physical distancing of one or two metres is recommended for uncontrolled public situations but isn’t going to add as much protection in highly controlled environment like a school.
Going into the fall season, kids who show possible flu-like symptoms will have to be tested for COVID-19, said Lysyshyn.
Rapid testing sites will soon be able to test children over the age of four, he said. Kids can also be tested at the North Shore’s urgent primary care centre, hospital emergency rooms and at Children’s Hospital.
Lysyshyn said health authorities do expect to see cases of COVID-19 and it’s likely some groups of students will have to isolate as a result.
Health authorities will decide which close contacts need to be informed when some who either attends or works in a school tests positive, he said.
If the virus is transmitted between children or adults within the school setting, it will be publicly reported.
To watch a video of the virtual town hall for parents, click here.
To read North Vancouver School District's frequently asked questions on back to school, click here.
