Two BC School moms, frustrated by a lack of openness by the BC Government when it comes to reporting COVID cases in BC schools, have started their own BC SCHOOL COVID TRACKER on social media.
One of the founders, Richmond mother Kathy Marliss says the site uses data gathered from teachers, parents, and administrators.
The groups' frustration revolves around the Provincial Governments' decision not to report schools with "only" a single case of COVID.
They feel notifying parents of single cases, not only "clusters", is critical because Ministry of Health contact tracers don't have the resources to properly inform all potential COVID contacts.
The editor of the BC School COVID Tracker doesn't endorse the current Government policy of returning students who may have been exposed back to school and monitoring their health.
"this led to continued spread as we documented last year"
The group urges parents and students to get tested even if they have mild symptoms, or if they believe they've been espoused to COVID.
If the tests are positive they ask you to email the school and CC them at bcschoolcovid@protonmail.com. You can find details here
Parents of students are asked to first contact the appropriate school as well as contacting the grassroots group. According to their website all information, names and email addresses are kept confidential.
This comes at a time when the BC Government is being criticized for underreporting the number of patients in hospitals because of COVID.
The Grassroots social media site continue to gain momentum despite a slight reversal of the notification policy by the BC government
The mission statement of this citizen initiative is to make information available, accessible and intelligible in real time to parents, teachers and staff members.
Richmond mother Kathy Marliss says the site includes data based on exposure and case information submitted by teachers, parents and administrators.