The province’s Chief Medical Officer of Health says the overall COVID risk posed by children in the classroom is lower than in other areas.

Dr. Janice Fitzgerald was responding to questions raised by parents who say they want to be notified of a positive COVID case in their child’s classroom.

Thousands of people are already following a Facebook page designed to help notify parents of COVID cases in their school or classroom.

Fitzgerald says while the decision to send a child to school is ultimately up to the parent, the overall public health risk is lower in the classroom.

Children are wearing masks, there is co-horting, hand sanitizing and screening is in place to prevent children from attending class while sick says Fitzgerald, all of which help to keep the risk low.

Amanda Bambury who created the Facebook page ‘Information for Parents – COVID Cases in NL Schools,’ says while it’s important for students to be in school, government has had plenty of time to set up reasonable virtual learning options for those who cannot attend, not just as a result of COVID, but to meet the needs of students who can’t attend class for a variety of reasons, including those who actually do better in a virtual learning environment.