Vancouver councillor urges caution after family infected in classroom COVID-19 exposure

A Vancouver city councillor is sharing her family’s story as she says the risk of COVID-19 transmission in schools and the community remains real.

Coun. Rebecca Bligh says her brother and sister-in-law and three nieces and nephews came down with the virus after one of the kids was initially exposed in the classroom.

“It started with the exposure to one of the children in school,” she said. The child then unknowingly played with some cousins, she added.

“They were informed of the exposure — since symptoms started to come up and then they got tested. They got a positive test, and then sort of one by one, all three kids, day after day, actually went down with COVID.”

While none of the children were old enough to be immunized, the adults were double vaccinated, Bligh said, and so far suffering from minor symptoms.

But she said the incident highlights the fact that COVID-19 transmission does happen in schools, and the fact that children are able to bring it home to their parents.

That was of particular concern in her sister-in-law’s case, who Bligh said is at high risk from due to type-1 diabetes.

“The concerns or anticipation of how serious it could get or would be was certainly front of mind,” she said.

The exposure and transmissions came despite the fact that the City of Vancouver has among the lowest per-capita case rates in the province, and that five out of six of Vancouver’s local health areas have an over 90 per cent double vaccination rate.

The province has maintained that the risk of in-school transmission remains low, and has made masks mandatory for staff and students in kindergarten to Grade 12.

Some parents and the BC Teachers’ Federation have called for tougher protocols, including improved ventilation in classrooms.

According to the BC Centre for Disease Control’s latest data summary, children aged five to 11 years old — who remain ineligible for immunization — continue to have a per-capita new case rate about double other age groups, though the numbers have come down significantly since an alarming spike in September and October.

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Bligh said her message is that the pandemic remains far from over, and that families and communities need to to stay vigilant and continue taking precautions.

“At the end of the day, it’s extremely contagious. And we see that in my family’s circumstance, with all four family members getting it despite masks and hand washing and what have you,” she said.

“My message is we’ve got to get herd immunity, we’ve got to get that broader population vaccinated. We all play a role in that. And for those children that are immune-compromised or can’t get vaccinated, we’ve got to do it for them too.”