Burnaby mom wants better COVID-19 reporting at schools, citing concerns for vulnerable partner

BURNABY (NEWS 1130) – A Burnaby family is speaking out about how potential COVID-19 exposure notifications are going out in schools, arguing people are not being given enough information.

Sylvia Fuller’s partner, Michael Coyle, is a transplant recipient. The vaccines against COVID-19 simply don’t work on him.

“My real concern here is the change in the protocols where parents are no longer being necessarily notified if there is a COVID case in their school, or even in their classroom. And this is just really critical information for families like mine to be able to keep ourselves safe,” she explained.

Read more: B.C. COVID school case tracker disappointed single exposures won’t be reported

Last month, B.C.’s top doctor announced that schools would no longer send out notifications for single cases. Dr. Bonnie Henry said schools would “be doing an assessment, as we do for every communicable disease, and every individual who’s at risk will be notified.” She added clusters and outbreaks would continue to be reported.

However, it’s unclear if this is the reason Fuller’s family was not notified about a recent case.

She says last week, there was a virus exposure at her child’s school involving a student in her son’s circle. But it was only on Wednesday, a week later, that a letter went out to some parents detailing the situation.

Yesterday, children in Fuller's son's circle were notified about an exposure in a classroom last week and told to isolate. Before that notification, her son was in close contact this week with those now isolating. Yet their family received no letter of notification.

— Martin MacMahon (@martinmacmahon) September 16, 2021

Her son’s friends are now isolating, but Fuller only learned about that due to another parent notifying her.

“So we’re left feeling incredibly vulnerable and adrift, and being put in a position where we’re having to make the choice between having our child continue to attend school, and to be able to live with and see his father,” she told NEWS 1130.

“This information is really important because now I can keep my child away from my spouse. We can isolate, we can keep him safe to minimize the chance that if he has been exposed that he passes this along. But in future, I’m not going to necessarily have this information at all, and that is incredibly worrying. It’s going to push families like mine out of the school system again with really terrible consequences for our kids and our families,” Fuller added.

Coyle’s name may be familiar to some. He’s spoken with NEWS 1130 many times over the years in his capacity as a search and rescue volunteer in Coquitlam. Last year, he received a kidney transplant from the spouse of another volunteer after living with polycystic kidney disease, which causes gradual kidney failure.

Yes, this is the same Michael Coyle you've heard on @NEWS1130 over the years in his capacity as a search & rescue volunteer. Given everything he's done for others, Fuller says least health leaders can do is give his family info to protect him from COVID-19. pic.twitter.com/sTj6eMvHW8

— Martin MacMahon (@martinmacmahon) September 16, 2021

His vulnerable state is what makes potential COVID-19 infection even more concerning.

Fuller says if her partner were to contract the virus, his outcome would likely be much worse than for the average person.

“So it’s a real concern whether my child is going to pick up COVID and bring it home to my family,” she said.

In a statement to NEWS 1130, the provincial health ministry says its notification system in schools “aligns with the standard communicable disease management approach” and made no indication it plans to alter its system.

Further, it adds “what we heard from the last school year is that school-based letters for single exposures can be anxiety-provoking and stressful for families.”

Meanwhile, Fuller wants the province to allow schools to share more information and is calling for rapid testing, as is done in some other countries.

She says while her son’s principal has been “very responsive” when it comes to her concerns, she claims the province and school board have not.

Others have echoed some of Fuller’s concerns. Earlier this month, the head of a Facebook page that tracks and reports COVID-19 notifications at B.C. schools sounded the alarm over the province’s decision to no longer issue single case notices.

Kathy Marliss, who started the BC COVID School Tracker, said the decision doesn’t make sense, and that having those details gave parents and families all the information they need to make informed decisions.

-With files from Robyn Crawford

This article has been updated to include a statement from B.C.’s health ministry