Abbotsford Christian School switches to e-learning amid rising COVID-19 cases

A third school in the Fraser Valley, British Columbia, has switched to online learning following a slight increase in COVID-19 cases.

Abbotsford Christian School Kindergarten to Grade 6 students will attend distance classes starting Tuesday.

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Vancouver School Board votes in favor of mandatory masks for all grades

The closure is expected to last the rest of the week.

Julius Siebenga, the school’s executive director, says around 20 cases are being followed up. He went on to say that the institution is working closely with officials at Fraser Health and that the transition to distance learning was necessary to reduce transmission.

Fraser Health is also monitoring outbreaks at Promontory Heights Elementary School in Chilliwack and Christian School in Maple Ridge.

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Growing Concerns About Epidemics in BC Schools

Five parent advisory councils on British Columbia’s south coast have called on the province to strengthen COVID-19 safety protocols.

In a letter to the Department of Education, PACs in Vancouver, Surrey, Burnaby, New Westminster and Sooke are calling for a stricter mask mandate to require K-3 students to wear face coverings, a increased contact tracing, a return to learning cohorts in primary schools and better ventilation in schools.

The Vancouver school board voted on Monday night to expand its mask mandate to apply to all students in Kindergarten to Grade 12.

Currently, the provincial guidelines for masking in schools apply to students in grades 4 to 12.

Provincial health worker Dr. Bonnie Henry said on Tuesday the province would not expand the mask’s mandate to include school-aged children from kindergarten to grade 3.

She said the increase in the number of cases among children in British Columbia reflects lower vaccination rates in some communities.

“We are seeing an increase in cases among schoolchildren,” Henry said. “This means that school-aged children, some of them, will come to school with COVID.

“The cases that we see are much more likely to come from families where the adults in the family have not yet been vaccinated or (children are) exposed in settings where there are older children or adults who are not. still vaccinated. “

–With files from Amy Judd and The Canadian Press

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