KFL&A Public Health expands symptoms for local school COVID-19 screening

With cases rising in the KFL&A region, the local medical officer of health is asking parents to screen their children for a longer list of symptoms to prevent further COVID-19 transmissions.

Monday, the Limestone District School Board sent a new expanded list home to parents that included symptoms additional to those on the provincial screening list, like stuffy and runny noses, headaches and pink eye. The full list can be found here at the board’s website.

The health unit is now asking local parents to use this expanded list to screen their children for COVID-19 before sending them to school.

“Our case and contact data demonstrate that majority of our cases were symptomatic in school and their symptoms were predominantly rhinitis related (nasal congestion and runny nose),” a statement from KFL&A Public Health said.

Anyone with symptoms found on either the provincial list or the local health unit’s expanded list of symptoms is being asked not to attend schools and to be tested as soon as possible.

The health unit said a symptomatic person can only return to school when they have received a negative test, if they are symptom-free for 10 days or if they receive a different diagnosis from a health professional.

As for those in the household with a symptomatic person, if they are unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated, they must isolate until the symptomatic person in their household received a negative COVID-19 test or another diagnosis.

2:40 COVID-19 vaccine appointments can be booked Tuesday for Ontario kids 5 to 11

“Household members who are asymptomatic and live with a person who has one or more symptoms from the KFL&A Public Health additional symptom list, not the provincial symptom screener, do not need to isolate while the symptomatic person is getting tested and waiting for the negative result,” the health unit said.

Starting Tuesday, children aged five to 11 years old be be able to start booking COVID-19 vaccines through the KFL&A booking website. COVID-19 vaccination bookings for that age group will not be available on the provincial website.