A school in Alberta won’t be considered to have a COVID-19 outbreak until it has five or more confirmed cases. The province is changing the language it uses when it comes to COVID-19 reporting in schools.
As of Monday, a school will be considered as on “alert” if it has one to four cases. The government’s website says parents will be notified by their child’s school as soon as one confirmed case is identified within the school.
Previously, an outbreak in a school was declared with just two cases, which will now be at least five. The outbreak is considered over when there have been no new confirmed cases in a school for 28 days.
The government is also getting rid of the term “watch” for when schools are being monitored for more measures, as it was reportedly confusing for partners. Schools with two or more cases will still be publicly reported on the Alberta.ca COVID-19 school map.
Since the return to in-class learning, 15 COVID-19 cases have been identified in Alberta classrooms. Ten schools are on alert and two are on outbreak status, although none are in the Grande Prairie area.