Question: Our staff have been told by a child’s parent that their child from may have a communicable disease, (also known as contagious disease) such as whooping cough, chicken pox, measles what should we do?
CONFIRMED CASE
When there is a confirmed case of a communicable (contagious) disease in a school
Confirmed case means that the student
- has seen a doctor;
- been tested;
- and the lab has confirmed the student has the disease
In this case, the lab will automatically contact Island Health Communicable Disease Department (CDD) who in turn contacts Public Health and the following occurs:
- Public Health is provided the name of the school;
- CDD provides Public Health with a school letter;
- Public Health attaches the appropriate BC Health File and the school letter to an email and forwards it to the school administrator
**PLEASE DO NOT SEND LETTERS HOME TO FAMILIES UNTIL INSTRUCTED BY PUBLIC HEALTH TO DO SO, AND ONLY USE THE LETTER THAT IS SENT TO YOU BY PUBLIC HEALTH.
Schools are encouraged to routinely communicate to their school community the need to practice health awareness, and to stay home when sick. Refer to Island Health School Newsletter Inserts as a resource
K-12 Communicable Disease Guidelines
