Students in Alberta who call out sick will be counted as COVID-19 cases as infections in the Canadian province surge - causing furious parents to accuse government officials of fear-mongering to maintain their grip on power after the new ruling by the Chief Medical Officer of Health.
'If individuals choose not to get tested for COVID-19 but are home with an illness they are now counted in the list as being part of that outbreak, and so it's less dependent on needing a test to be part of identifying where there is an issue,' said Deena Hinshaw, the province's top doctor, on Thursday.
In August, Hinshaw apologized for treating the pandemic as an 'endemic' in the early stages of COVID and for the fear and uncertainty that followed in the months after.
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Alberta Chief Medical Officer of Health Deena Hinshaw said on Thursday schools were to assume anyone at home was a positive case of COVID-19, in order to promptly alarm public health agencies of an outbreak
Hinshaw faced questions about the current framework to handle Coronavirus outbreaks in Alberta schools
In Alberta schools, students who come in contact with others infected with COVID-19 are not required to quarantine and a contract tracing measure is not in place.
The government has also announced that data on how many schools have COVID-19 outbreaks will not be released, prompting outrage from parents who feel they have the right to know.
Hinshaw said the current framework had been implemented based on previous evidence from other jurisdictions.
She has said it is necessary for schools to assume anyone at home is a positive case of COVID-19 because obtaining data on COVID-19 transmissions from pubic health agencies would violate the privacy of students and staff.
Hinshaw insisted that the method was in place so schools could promptly alarm public health officials of a possible outbreak, in order to add an extra layer of protection and mitigate the spread.
'In schools, we are taking the approach that an illness that fits that definition - respiratory illness- is treated the same way whether it is COVID or not, so additional measures can be put into place,' Hinshaw said
There were 1,061 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Alberta on Thursday
Users on Twitter disapproved of the measure they deemed alarmist and panic-driven
Ezra Levant, a reporter for Rebel News, shared a clip of Hinshaw and called the public health system in Alberta 'corrupt'
Another user wrote: 'Broken leg, refuse covid test, counted as a Covid case. FFS, the world is careering down a very dark path. How are they getting away with this, why are journalists not taking them to task?'
'In schools, we are taking the approach that an illness that fits that definition - respiratory illness- is treated the same way whether it is COVID or not, so additional measures can be put
