COVID-19 case linked to French daycare in Saskatoon

Some Saskatoon parents were forced to stay home with their kids Friday after COVID-19 showed up in their daycare.

The case at Felix-le-Chat was confirmed in a letter to parents on Thursday by the director of education for the Conseil des ecoles fransaskoises (CEF).

“It was brought to CEF’s attention that a person who regularly attends the childcare centre in Saskatoon has been diagnosed COVID-19 positive,” said Ronald Ajavon in the email.

The daycare and the elementary school Ecole canadienne-francaise share the same building, but have separate entrances and are run independently.

Edmund O’Connor’s seven-year-old son attends the school, while his four-year-old twin boys go the daycare. He was called by the daycare Wednesday evening informing him one of the twins had come in contact with the infected person.

The boy is now self-isolating at home until Sept. 18.

“All we know is that they have interacted with our child for at least 15 minutes,” he said. “You can imagine with that vague description that could mean anyone.”

The school division letter states public health is proceeding with contact tracing and reminds families to watch for the appearance of symptoms on their person and their loved ones.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority won’t disclose if the case involves a child, parent or worker.

That matters little to O’Connor, who doesn’t believe identifying the individual would have a positive impact.

“If you did know, what difference would it make?” he said. “It’s a small community. You know these people and you trust these people and you know everyone is trying to do their best.”

The notification process could have been faster, according to O’Connor. He said all the parents at the daycare should have been notified at the same time. Instead, only parents in the daycare class with the confirmed case were informed. The rest were notified the next day.

Camille Lapierre is the president of the parents association for the daycare. She says they will be assessing the situation.

“For the health and safety of the families and children and our own staff, we’re waiting for further guidelines and direction from public health, we decided it was best to close for today (Friday) and the board and committee will be determining what is the next course of action.”

O’Connor said the positive case hasn’t shaken his confidence in the daycare. However, he is on the fence about whether to send one son back once it reopens.

“I”m tending toward sending him in, but it’s very much up in the air,” O’Connor said. “If there was another case confirmed, I definitely would not.”

There isn’t any word on when the daycare will reopen

Meanwhile, the school division said school activities continue as normal.