Chelsea Price says her family has been in isolation after her two children and husband tested positive for COVID-19, and wants contact tracing notification for school exposures to be sped up.(Images provided by Chelsea Price)

By Dylana Kneeshaw

EXPOSURE NOTIFICATION

‘Two weeks too late’; Kamloops parent pushing for faster contact tracing and school exposure notices

Dec 15, 2021 | 3:46 PM

KAMLOOPS — Parents at Arthur Stevenson Elementary in Kamloops are voicing concerns over the amount of time it took to be notified of their children’s exposure to COVID-19.

Chelsea Price and her family have been hunkered down in isolation for nearly a week, after her two kids were exposed – eventually testing positive – along with her husband. Price feels if they had known sooner, the virus may not have spread through their household the way it did.

“I really strongly feel that if my son had been in isolation, I could have protected my husband. I could have protected my daughter,” Price tells CFJC Today.

Price’s daughter and son attend Arthur Stevenson Elementary, in kindergarten and grade five respectively. Though the didn’t find out until recently, Price says her son was exposed to the virus on Nov. 29. The family’s symptoms appeared the following Tuesday (Dec. 7), test results came in Friday (Dec. 10), and Price’s husband was called about his positive case by Interior Health on Saturday (Dec. 11). But not their kids’ cases.

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Price says her husband tried to ask if the public health caller could speak to his wife about their kids and was told a separate call would be made regarding the children’s cases.

“Still haven’t been called from Interior Health,” Price says, “(Vancouver) Coastal Health called me yesterday (Dec. 13). I’m not even sure why they’re jumping in because they’re not even in our health authority.”

Interior Health was asked whether resources from other health authorities have been required to assist in contact tracing and exposure notification, and CFJC did not hear back by publication time.

Price now feels uneasy about the idea of sending her kids back in January after the winter holiday break. She feels the amount of time it takes to notify close contacts leaves parents in the dark – unknowingly bringing their potentially exposed and potentially positive kids to school.

“There are two classrooms as of one o’clock this afternoon (Dec. 14) in self isolation,” she explains. “We’re only just getting these letters, these notices now. I mean it’s two weeks too late.”

“I’m really frustrated with Interior Health because nobody has helped us. Like they are supposed to contact us and let us know what our next steps are to be.”

SCHOOL NOTIFICATIONS

School District 73 Superintendent Rhonda Nixon says contact tracing is governed by Interior Health. When there’s a positive case in a school, Interior Health lets the district know whether the positive person has exposed other students or staff.

“And sometimes we find out that it’s not the case,” Nixon notes, “So even though you might hear about a case, in contact tracing and through that process they discover that in fact that person has not impacted anyone in the school.”

Nixon also notes that Arthur Stevenson is not the only school in the area with recent exposures. In fact, the elementary school is one of several listed on Interior Health’s school exposures page as of Wednesday (Dec. 15). Schools are removed from the list 14 days after the exposure date.

Those include:

• Parkcrest Elementary Dec. 2, 3, 8, 9, 10
• South Sa-Hali Elementary Dec. 2, 3
• Arthur Stevenson Elementary Dec. 2, 3
• Rayleigh Elementary Dec. 3
• Lloyd George Elementary Dec. 2, 3
• AE Perry Elementary Dec. 3
• Chase Secondary Dec. 6, 7
• Kamloops School of the Arts Dec. 9
• Barriere Elementary Dec. 7, 8, 9
• Logan Lake Elementary Dec. 7, 8
• Kamloops Christian School Dec. 6, 7

When there are multiple cases, Nixon says the health authority tells them whether an entire class needs to self-isolate or self-monitor. Nixon says they usually hear back around the 24-hour mark, but sometimes the process can take days.

“What is taking time is to do more refined contact tracing, it doesn’t happen in minutes,” she explains, “And I know that we feel like, ‘We’ve heard about a case so how come they don’t let us know right now, like what is going on? Are we self monitoring? Are we self isolating?’ but what they do is they exercise a little bit more due diligence.”

To a worried parent though, Nixon acknowledges that any wait time can feel like an eternity.

RAPID TESTING

In a news briefing yesterday (Dec. 14), B.C.’s provincial health officer says they’re trying to bring in a rapid testing program in the province to be used in situations like school exposures.

Dr. Bonnie Henry says supplies will likely arrive by early January.

“So somebody in your family or your household has been diagnosed with it, or your child in a classroom in a school where there’s been transmission in that classroom,” Henry states. “So while you’re at home in isolation you can serial test with the rapid antigen test to see if you’ve developed this.”

For Price and other parents with kids in the school system, rapid testing can’t come soon enough. And they’re hoping immediate changes will be made to fast-track contact tracing.

“Where are our rapid COVID tests that apparently are locked up in storage?” Price asks, “People should be doing this (testing) before they’re going to school because at the end of the day, all of this was preventable.”