More than 80 different Vancouver Island have been added to an independent website tracking coronavirus exposures at schools in the past seven days.
According to the B.C. School COVID Tracker website, there have been 135 self-reported COVID-19 exposure notices at 82 different schools on Vancouver Island between Jan. 17 and Jan. 23.
The majority of schools on the list, 40 to be exact, are located within Greater Victoria, while the remainder are located in the Nanaimo, Cowichan Valley, Comox Valley, Campbell River, and Port Alberni areas.
A total of 19 exposure entries between Jan. 17 and Jan. 23 on the website are listed as presumed COVID-19, while the rest are listed as results from a rapid test or PCR test.
B.C. School COVID Tracker is a crowd-sourced independent website that has been operating for most of the pandemic. It relies on information provided — and then verified through documentation such as letters and emails — to them by parents, school staff and administrators.
Island Health has stopped listing school exposure notifications on its website, citing Omicron’s higher community transmission levels, shorter incubation period and increased use of rapid tests — a change has coincided with a shift in the provincial government’s communication strategy and newly updated protocols related to COVID-19 schools.
As a result, public health will now only notify families about school exposures when attendance drops below normal rates — and what that means depends mainly on the size of the school. The general rule is if school attendance is 10 per cent below what it is usually is in previous years, then a notification will go out. The public will also be notified if there are fewer than 75 per cent of students in a grade in attendance.
Since most students returned to the classroom on Jan. 10, there have been at least 130 different schools on Vancouver Island to appear on the B.C. School COVID Tracker website. There were 49 schools to appear on the list between Jan. 10 and the afternoon of Jan. 16.
Below is a list of schools that have been added to the B.C. School COVID Tracker website between Jan. 17 and Sunday afternoon (Jan. 23).
Schools are listed in alphabetical order and some appear multiple times, which is indicated below. Detailed information regarding the reported exposures can be found here.
GREATER VICTORIA
Belmont Secondary x 3
Campus View Elementary x 2
Colwood Elementary
Colquitz Middle School
Cordova Bay Elementary
David Cameron Elementary x 2
Deep Cove Elementary (North Saanich)
Doncaster Elementary
Dunsmuir Middle School x 3
Ecole Marigold School
Ecole Quadra Elementary
Ecole Poirier Elementary (Sooke) x 2
Edward Milne Community School
Eagle View Elementary (View Royal)
Esquimalt High
Glanford Middle School
Hans Helgesen Elementary (Metchosin)
Happy Valley Elementary (Langford)
John Stubbs Elementary and Middle x 4
Keating Elementary x 3
Kelset Elementary (North Saanich) x 2
Lakewood Elementary
Lansdowne Middle School
Margaret Jenkins Elementary x 2
Millstream Elementary x 2
Northridge Elementary (Saanich)
Parkland Secondary (North Saanich) x 2
Prospect Lake Elementary
Royal Oak Middle School
Ruth King Elementary
Sangster Elementary
Shoreline Community Middle School
Spencer Middle School x 4
Sooke Elementary
St Patrick’s School (Victoria)
Tillicum Community School
Torquay Elementary
Victoria High
View Royal Elementary x 2
Willway Elementary
NANAIMO REGION
Arrowview Elementary (Qualicum Beach)
Cedar Elementary
Chase River Elementary x 3
Cinnabar Valley Elementary
Fairview Elementary
McGirr Elementary x 3
Mountain View Elementary
Nanaimo District Secondary
Nanoose Bay Elementary
North Oyster Elementary (Ladysmith)
Park Avenue Elementary x 3
Pauline Haarer Elementary x 2
Quarterway Elementary
Randerson Ridge Elementary x 3
Rock City Elementary
Wellington Secondary x 4
COWICHAN VALLEY
Alex Aitken Elementary (Duncan) x 5
Bench Elementary
Cowichan Secondary x 2
Frances Kelsey Secondary School (Mill Bay)
George Bonner Elementary (Mill Bay) x 3
Khowhemun Elementary
Maple Bay Elementary
Mill Bay Nature School
Queen Margaret’s (Duncan) x 4
Tansor Elementary (Duncan) x 2
COMOX VALLEY
Au Coeur de L’ile (Comox) x 2
Brooklyn Elementary
Cumberland Community School x 2
Lake Trail Middle (Courtenay) x 2
Miracle Beach Elementary (Black Creek)
Phil & Jennie Gaglardi Academy
Royston Elementary
Valley View Elementary
CAMPBELL RIVER
Carihi Secondary x 2
Ecole Phoenix Middle
Penfield Elementary
Sandowne Elementary
Southgate Middle School
ALBERNI VALLEY & TOFINO
Ecole des Grands-cedres (Port Alberni) x 3
Eric J Dunn Elementary (Port Alberni)
Wickaninnish Community School
With files from Jasmine Bala
Nicholas Pescod
