'Heartbreaking': Edmonton-area NICU nurse frustrated after 7-year-old son contracts COVID-19 at school
While sitting in a staff meeting at an Edmonton-area hospital, a NICU nurse received confirmation her son tested positive for COVID-19.
Cheryl Duggan told CTV News Edmonton her seven-year-old only attended school for seven days when they were notified he may have been exposed to another positive student.
On Saturday, Duggan said he started developing COVID-19 symptoms including a high fever and cough. So she wasn't "too surprised" when her son's test came back positive.
“It’s just been heartbreaking to see my son and not be able to do anything to help him, and know that I just have to wait this out.”
Duggan explained If health measures were still in place at Alberta schools, she believes her son would have been protected and he wouldn’t have been exposed to COVID-19.
“Anything at this point is better than nothing,” she said.
“Contact tracing was a fundamental pillar of notification and mitigating spread of COVID in schools,” Wing Li, with Support Our Students Alberta, added.
Li told CTV News parents are just realizing the affects of having the health measures eliminated now that kids have been back in the class for just over a week.
“Not knowing when your child was exposed in a classroom or in a close setting at school is concerning,” Li said.
“We echo the call to reinstate contact tracing for schools. Public health needs to step in with their resources and their infrastructure. Schools don’t have the ability to do contact tracing, they’re not public health officials.”
Duggan explained to CTV News she feels frustrated with the current climate as she’s gone above and beyond to keep her family safe over the past 18 months.
“I feel that there’s a large population of kids that aren’t yet safe, so I’m choosing to speak up,” she said.
“My voice is for them and for the babies that I work with in my NICU and the people that cannot yet be vaccinated for whatever reason.”
The provincial website does not currently list COVID-19 outbreaks in schools.
With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction overturned by N.Y. appeals court
New York's highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction, reversing a landmark ruling of the #MeToo era in determining the trial judge improperly allowed women to testify about allegations against the ex-movie mogul that weren't part of the case.
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that is banned at Queen’s Park.
CTE: Researchers believe widespread brain injury may contribute to veteran suicide rate
Researchers are working to better understand if some Canadian military veterans may be suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE -- a disorder previously found in the brains of professional football and hockey players after their death.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
New deep-water channel allows first ship to pass Key bridge wreckage in Baltimore
The first cargo ship passed through a newly opened deep-water channel in Baltimore on Thursday after being stuck in the harbor since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed four weeks ago, halting most maritime traffic through the city's port.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.