Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer of health.

By Troy Gillard

STARTING MONDAY

Alberta changes COVID-19 symptom list for school-aged children

Oct 29, 2020 | 5:59 PM

Alberta Health has updated its list of COVID-19 symptoms for children.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, said the changes take effect starting Monday and include the daily checklist used by schools and for all child care settings in the province.

Two significant changes will help get those under 18 years of age back into the classroom or child care as quickly and safely as possible, she said.

Runny nose and sore throat are being removed from the list of symptoms that require mandatory isolation for children. However, Hinshaw made clear the change is only for those who have not had a known exposure.

She says more than 3,400 children and youth who were tested last week for COVID-19 reported having a sore throat, but more than 700 of them had a sore throat as their only symptom, and less than one per cent of their tests came back positive.

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The province is also shifting to a more targeted checklist that takes into account the total number of symptoms a child may have.

Any child who has even one of the core isolation symptoms – cough, fever, shortness of breath and now loss of taste or smell – must still isolate for 10 days or have a negative test result and resolved symptoms before resuming activities, Hinshaw said.

She added that for all other COVID-19 symptoms they are switching to a more strategic approach.

“Starting on Monday, if a child has only one of any of the other symptoms on the list they should stay home and monitor for 24 hours. If their symptom is improving after 24 hours, testing is not necessary and they can return to normal activities when they feel well enough.

“However, if the child has two or more symptoms on the list, then testing is recommended and they should stay home until the symptoms go away or they test negative for COVID-19,” she said.

Hinshaw said the changes allow for testing to be focused on those most at-risk and decrease wait times for all Albertans and the impact of the changes will be monitored closely.

Albertans over the age of 18 will continue to use the daily checklist already online. Evidence is being examined to determine if changes can be made for those over 18.

(Story compiled with file from Chris Brown – CHAT News Today)