School absenteeism related to cold-like symptoms has some people asking whether certain symptoms should be reconsidered in determining whether children should be allowed back to class.

Children with two or more symptoms of COVID-19 are asked to stay home until those symptoms have been resolved for 24 hours.

That means lots of students with the runny nose and cough associated with a common head cold are already missing classes less than a month into the new school year.

The chief medical officer of health, Dr. Janice Fitzgerald, says they’re always looking at the symptom checklist.

Whether that will change is still not clear. Dr. Fitzgerald says until recently there hasn’t been a lot of experience with children with COVID-19, and how the virus presents in children is now being evaluated.

The English Language School District says as of Wednesday, September 16, provincial attendance levels were at 90 per cent, but there was no indication as to the reason behind individual absences.

The NLESD says while this year may unfold differently than in the past, it’s still too early to compare attendance rates to those in previous years.

Meanwhile, British Columbia recently amended the daily health checklist for school-aged children in the province. Ten symptoms have been removed, including sore throat, runny nose, headache, and fatigue.

BC’s Ministry of Health says the recommendation was made from public health to remove some of the symptoms, given the very low probability of these symptoms by themselves indicating COVID-19.