COVID-19 cases in Yukon schools accounted for 1 in 5 of all active cases last September
Health department says data may not show full picture
More than 150 students and staff at Yukon schools tested positive for COVID-19 during the first six weeks of the school year, according to data obtained through an access to information request.
The data from the Yukon health department shows 137 students and 27 staff tested positive between Sept. 1 and Nov. 17.
The 154 confirmed cases amounted to more than 20 per cent of all active COVID-19 cases in the Yukon in that time frame.
Whitehorse Elementary was the school hardest-hit, with 42 students contracting COVID-19. There were 19 student cases at Johnson Elementary in Watson Lake and 18 at Elijah Smith School in Whitehorse.
There were also positive cases among staff at those schools, but those figures were not provided by the department for privacy reasons because the number of cases was under 10. Nineteen other schools, including Yukon University, reported cases among students and/or staff. Those numbers were also suppressed for privacy reasons.
The data for school staff does not differentiate between teachers, administrators and other staff such as janitors.
Self-reported data 'may be subject to bias'
In its response to the information request, the health department cautioned that the data may not show the full picture of COVID-19 in schools.
"Documentation of student and staff status is based on self-reported data, which may be subject to bias," the department stated. "Individuals may choose not to provide this information, or choose to provide inaccurate information, due to concerns around stigma, trust, or other social consequences."
The department also said data collection may have been inconsistent, because department staff shifted away from a test-and-trace approach "to management of high-priority cases."
The response does not include any data from the wave of Omicron variant cases that hit the territory in early December and peaked in January.
CBC filed the request last November, after officials repeatedly refused to provide case numbers in schools. Under the Yukon's access to information laws, public bodies are supposed to respond to requests within 30 days, but can be granted extensions. The CBC agreed to the department's request for an additional 30 days to provide the data.
Last month, health officials announced they would no longer count positive COVID-19 cases in schools, opting instead to infer the case situation through student and staff absences. That's the same practice adopted by other Canadian jurisdictions.
Despite concerns from parents, teachers and opposition politicians — and despite several schools moving to remote learning because of the Omicron outbreak — Dr. Catherine Elliott, the Yukon's acting chief medical officer, maintained the territory's schools are safe.