BC COVID-19: Go-forward management strategy

Summary

This document outlines British Columbia's strategy for managing COVID-19, balancing public health and healthcare capacity with social and economic needs. It describes a shift from stringent lockdown measures towards a more sustainable approach that allows for increased social interaction (up to 60% of normal) while maintaining measures to reduce transmission and protect vulnerable populations. The strategy emphasizes personal self-care, safe social interactions, and safe practices in organizations and public institutions, with ongoing monitoring and adaptation based on data and modeling.

Excerpt

For Child Care Centres and Education Settings/Camps

• Child care centres an important part of the social infrastructure to support parents returning to work.
• While it is well established that children are important drivers of influenza virus transmission in the community; for the COVID-19 virus, initial data indicates that children are less affected than adults and that clinical attack rates in the 0-19 age group are low. Further preliminary data from household transmission studies in China suggest that children are infected from adults, rather than vice versa. This is an important consideration with respect to school closures and reopening but is an area in which the evidentiary base will continue to develop.

Child Care Centres

• Routine daily screening for all staff and students
• Routine and frequent environmental cleaning
• Explicit policy for children or staff who have the symptoms of a cold, flu, or COVID-19 with coughing or sneezing not coming into child care.