COVID-19 and illness cases

WHAT TO DO IF YOUR CHILD IS SICK

If your child is going to be away from school due to illness, it is important you let their school know. When reporting your child’s illness, please consider sharing their symptoms, whether they have tested positive for COVID-19, or any other relevant information. This will help us track student absence rates accurately.

Responding to illness absences 

If a school is seeing a sharp increase in rates of illness, parents and guardians will receive a letter from the school, letting them know what the school is doing to prevent further spread.

Read about the other ways we’re working to prevent illness in Edmonton Public Schools.

OUTBREAKS

Edmonton Public Schools works closely with Alberta Health Services (AHS) to report school absence rates that reach 10 per cent or higher. If AHS determines the school has an outbreak of illness (respiratory, gastrointestinal, etc.), a letter will be sent to families.

Schools on outbreak status will follow all AHS recommendations around school operations and activities while on outbreak.

Read AHS’s Guide for Outbreak Prevention and Control in Schools.

MOVING TO ONLINE LEARNING

The Division is taking all steps possible to maintain in-person learning. There may be times when classes move temporarily online due to operational challenges.

If your child’s class needs to move online, your school will provide you with further details and information.

SCHOOL GATHERINGS

When a school is seeing an increase in the number of students away due to illness, they may consider shifting large-scale gatherings to an online format, or postponing the event until illness rates decrease.

COVID-19 AND ILLNESS DATA

To help parents understand what’s happening inside their child’s school, we report on the percentages of students absent due to self-reported cases of COVID-19 or general illness.

The data reflects student absences that have been reported to schools by parents. The information is updated every weekday, between approximately 8:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m., and displays student absence rates up to the previous day. 

To protect student privacy, further details will not be released.