Chief medical officer of health Robert Strang said Wednesday that COVID contact tracing in schools is disruptive and offers “no added value.” On the same day, Nova Scotia Health announced it will no longer release exposure notifications. The move away public COVID notices isn’t sitting well with everyone.
Doctor Strang acknowledged that people have had many questions about the choice to stop school contact tracing, and that some parents are doing independent contact and exposure tracing in light of the province’s plan to end the practice. The group Nova Scotia Parents for Public Education has been leading its own contact tracing efforts.
“While I appreciate that people want to help, and that information is important, there really is no additional benefit in school setting to have that contact tracing,” Strang said during Wednesday's COVID briefing. He said tracing can provide a false sense of security and it’s best to assume you’ve been exposed if you’ve been out and about.
Nova Scotia schools resumed in-person learning Monday, following one week of virtual classes. The province said attendance so far this first week has been between 80 and 88 percent. This is down about eight percent, premier Tim Houston said, compared to a normal attendance of 88 to 90 percent.
Parents have established a crowdsourced document of anonymous positive results with school information. Strang said people are free to share their personal health information, but warned that those who are sharing other people’s health information online should be “very careful about how they do that.”
In a video statement, Nova Scotia Teachers Union president Paul Wozney spoke out against the ending of contact tracing. He said “there is no valid medical or ethical reason to keep exposures and positive cases hidden from families and staff.”
Teachers are not required to share news of their own positive result if they have COVID, and if they learn that a student has tested positive, they are required not to share that or notify anyone, the department of education confirmed to CBC.
Hospitalizations
COVID hospitalizations, which is Nova Scotia’s new measure for managing the pandemic amid the omicron wave, have hit 83 for those who were admitted due to COVID-19. Of these patients, 12 are in ICU. There are 256 people in hospital who actually have COVID, however. This includes 66 who were admitted for other reasons but tested positive upon arrival, and 107 people who contracted COVID while in hospital.
Premier Houston said during Wednesday’s briefing that hospitals are identifying COVID in more new patients who seek care for other reasons. He also acknowledged this number is worthy of note because all COVID-positive patients require extra resources and care within the hospital.
“You can see where the pressure is mounting on our health care system,” Houston said.
