Edmonton student absences continue increasing, doctors and parents plead for support

The number of Edmonton Public Schools students out sick continues to surge, with Friday's absentee rate surpassing the height of reported illnesses during the Omicron wave in January.

Edmonton Public reported an overall absenteeism rate of 10.04 per cent or 11,341 students, surpassing the previous pandemic record on Jan. 21 of 9.92 per cent.

Those stats include all illnesses, not just COVID-19 or other respiratory infections.

According to the district's data, Belgravia and Avonmore elementary schools had some of the highest absentee rates of 27 and 22 per cent, respectively.

Pediatrician Dr. Tehseen Ladha says the usual peak for respiratory viruses in children is in January or February and lasts a few weeks.

"(It) tends not to be that severe," said Ladha,who is also a University of Alberta assistant professor.

"This year, it's been (happening) since September," she added. "We've been seeing kids sick since the start of school over and over again and quite severely ill."

"I've been practicing for 10 years, and in that decade, I've never seen viruses hit kids with such frequency so early in the year."

Having more kids out sick — with COVID-19, influenza or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) — at the same time as hospitals continue dealing with staffing shortages, COVID-19 patients and the pandemic backlog of procedures is concerning for Ladha.

"How are we going to be able to treat all these children in the ER, and how are we going to admit them?" she asked.

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'EXCESSIVE FOR WHAT IS THE NORM'

Many parents are concerned that their kids are getting sick every few weeks, and how that can impact the rest of their families and even the time their guardians have to take away from work, says Wing Li, Support our Students spokesperson.

Whatever support there was for parents taking sick leaves or time away from work to care for their children during the pandemic has since ended, Li added.

"It's disappeared because people think we are back to regular programming, and that's just not the case," she said. "We are adapting the best we can, but we do need public health and Alberta Health Services to tell us what is going on."

Li has heard that parents want the province to provide more funding to classrooms to help support teachers and education assistants to catch students back up again as they continue to miss class.

"Students having one sickness after another is piling on," she said. "It does seem excessive for what is the norm."

"Students that aren't healthy aren't learning," Li added.

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Dr. Ladha said the province should be looking at implementing short-term masking mandates until respiratory illnesses peak for the season and helping schools upgrade air filtration systems.

"This is really a public health issue," Ladha added. "We are looking at the entire child population that is being impacted by these severe, frequent viruses, whether they be influenza, RSV, COVID.

"There are things that we can do to prevent it from getting worse, and right now, none of that is being done."

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PROVINCE STANDS BY DECISION TO END SCHOOL MASK MANDATES

The province is seeing an "early rise" in seasonal infections, including the flu, COVID-19 and RSV, acknowledged Steve Buick, press secretary to Health Minister Jason Copping.

"The increases in non-COVID viruses are not surprising given the low levels over the past two years," Buick said in a statement to CTV News Edmonton. "Levels will fluctuate over time and between communities. We encourage Albertans to judge their risk at any point in time and take appropriate precautions, including wearing a mask if they choose."

He said that high levels of vaccine coverage and "wider access to effective therapeutics" is helping Albertans manage respiratory infections.

"The Province is monitoring the situation in schools closely," Buick added. "We stand by the decision to end school mask mandates in February, based on the balance of evidence that schools were not a major factor in overall transmission or impact on our communities.

"The evidence since then supports the decision: the removal of mandatory masking in schools made no difference to overall virus transmission and hospital admissions, which were dropping at the time and continued to drop for a number of weeks after the change."

WHAT ARE SCHOOL DISTRICTS DOING IN RESPONSE?

CTV News Edmonton reached out to Edmonton-area school authorities to see what they are recommending as absent rates climb.

All schools inform AHS on absentee rates, and should one report higher than 10 per cent absenteeism due to illness, the provincial health authority declares an outbreak and sends letters and information resources to parents.

As of Friday, 65 schools in the Edmonton zone are on outbreak status, up from 22 the week before.

Edmonton Public School Board

Edmonton Public continued to recommend parents report when their child is absent and to keep sick kids home.

"We all continue to play a role in keeping one another safe and health," EPSB said in a statement.

A decision to pause an activity or move an event online can be made at the school level, district officials said.

Edmonton Catholic School District

All schools under outbreak status have been instructed to hold Remembrance Day ceremonies and other large assemblies virtually, a division official told CTV News Edmonton.

If a school is on outbreak status, division staff and facility services support it "with their outbreak management based on their particular circumstances."

St. Albert Public Schools

The district says all schools have masks available for staff and students to use.

The division is exploring changes to minimize activities involving students from different grades and potentially rescheduling some elementary inter-school matches.

"Most of our schools will be having virtual Remembrance Day ceremonies," a spokesperson said.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Saif Kaiser and Kyra Markov