Cold and flu season a 'huge concern' at Vancouver Island schools
Cold and flu season a 'huge concern' at Vancouver Island schools
Across B.C., children have been struck particularly hard by cold and flu season this year. On Vancouver Island, schools are seeing a significant number of students staying home because of illness.
"There's a high [rate of] absenteeism in schools right now," said Winona Waldron, vice president of the Greater Victoria Teacher's Association.
"Kids are getting sick and it's reflective of illness in the community," she said.
Local man Tyler Shaughnessy was at home taking care of his sick daughter on Thursday. She's missed the entire week of school because of a cold.
"She kind of started getting sick over the weekend, and the cough worsened Sunday night, so we felt best that she stay home," he said.
In the Sooke School District, absenteeism is up by 10 per cent compared to before the pandemic.
"In 2019 our average absence rate on this date was about seven per cent and today we're sitting at about 17 per cent absence," said Scott Stinson, superintendent of the Sooke School District, on Thursday.
'DIFFICULT INFLUENZA SEASON'
Hospitals across B.C., including on Vancouver Island, are getting hit hard by increases in children coming in with respiratory illnesses.
It's a fact that Health Minister Adrian Dix is aware of. On Thursday, he said that non-urgent surgeries may get postponed as hospitals struggle to keep up with growing respiratory demands, particularly for children, though he stressed the province wasn't at that point yet.
"On Vancouver Island and everywhere else, there's significant challenges right now in the emergency room," he said.
"This is going to be a difficult influenza season, in addition to COVID-19, in addition to RSV," he said.
This summer, funding for custodial staff in the Greater Victoria School District was cut back. This year, there's about half the number of custodians in middle schools and elementary schools in the district compared to the year before.
The timing is horrible, staff say, with some worrying that schools are becoming germ pits during the flu season.
"We're not providing a safe and healthy or clean environment for them to learn in. Not anymore," said Darren Reed with CUPE Local 382, the union representing custodial, trades and non-trades workers in SD61.
The Greater Victoria Teacher's Association says it shares Reed's concerns.
"It's a huge concern right now for teachers, for education assistants," said Waldron. "It should be a huge concern for families. Desks should be cleaned."
CTV News reached out to the school district but heard SD61 was not available for comment Thursday.
In the meantime, the province is still encouraging everyone, especially kids, to get vaccinated for COVID-19 and the flu.
W5 goes deep into the narco heartland to interview a commander with one of Mexico's most brutal cartels. W5's documentary 'Narco Avocados' airs Saturday at 7 pm on CTV.
Memphis authorities released video footage Friday showing Tyre Nichols being beaten by police officers who held the Black motorist down and repeatedly struck him with their fists, boots and batons as he screamed for his mother and pleaded, ''I'm just trying to go home.'
When selling a home, Canadians may be exempted from paying capital gains tax on a residential property -- if it's their principal residence. On CTVNews.ca, personal finance contributor Christopher Liew explains what's determined as a principal residence, and what properties are eligible for the exemption.
Aryna Sabalenka, a 24-year-old from Belarus, who won her first Grand Slam title by coming back to beat Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 at Melbourne Park on Saturday night, using 17 aces among her 51 total winners to overcome seven double-faults.
With a deal under negotiation between Ottawa and provinces, and premiers invited to a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in early February, the issue remains one where the Tory leader's position appears somewhat murky, including to some inside his own party.
A Palestinian gunman opened fire outside an east Jerusalem synagogue Friday night, killing seven people, including a 70-year-old woman, and wounding three others before he was shot and killed by police, officials said.
The head of the Canada Revenue Agency says it 'wouldn't be worth the effort' to fully review $15.5 billion in potentially ineligible pandemic wage benefit payments flagged by Canada's Auditor General.
Using phones and tablets to communicate in encrypted chatrooms, a rapidly growing group of U.S. and allied troops and contractors are providing real-time maintenance advice -- usually speaking through interpreters -- to Ukrainian troops on the battlefield.
The chief of the Williams Lake First Nation says he would support excavating possible unmarked graves at the site of the former St. Joseph's Mission residential school if that's what elders and the community decide is best.
A review has been launched after police officers were recorded restraining a handcuffed Indigenous child on the floor of a Vancouver hospital – an incident the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs has denounced as "horrendous."
The self-proclaimed spiritual leader accused of sexually assaulting four of his female followers between 2017 and 2020 made his first court appearance in Edmonton.
New details have emerged in an ongoing civil lawsuit against the City of Leduc as court documents detail allegations that women working as firefighters experienced systemic discrimination and sexual assault.
An Alberta government email review of whether Premier Danielle Smith’s office interfered with Crown prosecutors has taken a confusing turn, with duelling statements from two spokespeople on what was investigated.
The transformation of a house in downtown Toronto – from a multi-unit with below market rent to a luxury single-family home – is not an anomaly. But rather, housing and legal experts say it is emblematic of why a housing crisis continues to grip the city.
While the deadline to file your taxes is months away, there are some personal tax credits Ontarians may qualify for that require some time pilfering through receipts to get them.
Tyler Toffoli and the Calgary Flames rebounded from one of their ugliest losses of the season and picked up an important two points in the Pacific Division before starting the All-Star break.
Upward of five centimetres of snow fell in Calgary early Friday morning and officials said conditions were good, but the situation deteriorated later on Friday, leading to plenty of crashes and road closures.
A man considered one of Quebec's most wanted criminals has been arrested in Mexico on allegations of pimping and serious sexual offences. A Canada-wide warrant was for Blake Charbonneau's arrest last year, with a reward of up to $50,000 offered last year for information that could lead to his capture.
On Jan. 29, 2017, six men were killed and five others injured shortly after evening prayer at the Quebec City Islamic Cultural Centre. Montrealers gathered Friday to commemorate the victims and call for action amid a rise in hate crimes.
In an emotional and powerful speech at an International Holocaust Remembrance Day event in Ottawa, a survivor stressed the importance of remembering the millions of victims murdered by the Nazis during the Second World War and underscored the need to stand up against anti-semitism and hate.
The Halifax Thunderbirds hosted its annual Every Child Matters night Friday, which included a pre-game ceremony to draw attention to and honour the victims and survivors of Canada’s residential school system.
Record collectors in Newfoundland will have a chance Saturday to paw through selections from the vast vinyl library belonging to 98-year-old radio station VOWR.
Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) shut down a section of a Perth County roadway Friday after they say a passerby discovered a body in the area overnight.
A Kitchener elementary school is responding to reports of a suspicious man who appeared to be watching or following students on two separate occasions.
A Saskatchewan man who had his charges stayed based on pandemic delays in court will be headed back for trial, after a ruling from the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal.
Three downtown business organizations are advocating for the City of Regina to locate a new multi-purpose events centre and central library branch in the downtown core.
Barrie Colts owner Howie Campbell, as well as the captain and alternate captain of the Colts, Brandt Clarke and Jacob Frasca visited the two patients at RVH this week.
Sixteen Scottish curlers and 16 Canadians squared off against each other Friday morning as part of the 2023 Strathcona Cup, a tournament taking place across Canada.
The manager of a Tim Hortons in North Bay was wrong to fire a long-term employee because of her physical limitations, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario has ruled.
W5 goes deep into the narco heartland to interview a commander with one of Mexico's most brutal cartels. W5's documentary 'Narco Avocados' airs Saturday at 7 pm on CTV.
