As you may have heard, the Ministry of Education announced on Thursday that it has updated its COVID-19 school and child care screening guidance. The TDSB takes its lead from Toronto Public Health, who has also revised their guidance based on the provincial direction.

According to the revised guidelines, students and children with symptoms such as fever and cough will still be advised to stay home until they are able to consult with a health care provider and receive an alternate diagnosis or a negative COVID-19 test. A second set of questions now deals with symptoms that are commonly associated with other illnesses, such as runny nose or headache, and provides the following direction:

• Students and children with only one of these symptoms will be advised to stay home for 24 hours, after which they can return to school or child care if their symptoms are improving.
• Students and children with two or more of these symptoms will be advised to stay home until they are able to consult with a health care provider and receive an alternative diagnosis or a negative COVID-19 test.

In addition, based on the latest public health guidance, the symptom list for children in school and child care no longer includes abdominal pain or conjunctivitis (pink eye).

Based on this update, here is the new student screening tool from Toronto Public Health, as well as the revised TDSB’s Health Pass. The TDSB Daily Health Screening App has also been updated to reflect these changes.

Ensuring the health and safety of our staff and students is our priority and we all play a role. Again, one of the most important things families can to do help slow the spread of COVID-19 is to screen their children daily for COVID-19 symptoms and keep them home from school if they are sick or have had close contact with anyone diagnosed with COVID-19.

Thank you for your continued efforts to help keep our school environments safe and healthy.