At least 6 Yukon schools shift to temporary remote learning

There are now at least six schools that have shifted to temporary remote learning in the Yukon.

Last week, the territory said students were to return to in-classroom learning after the holidays. At the time, Dr. Catherine Elliott, the territory's acting chief medical officer of health, said the "level of risk in schools is acceptable" and that she's "confident in the decision of students returningto classrooms this year."

The number of COVID-19 cases in the Yukon continues to surge, with cases in all communities throughout the territory.

On Wednesday, Elliott said she expects infections to keep rising and that there will be more hospitalizations. As of yesterday, she said there were two people in hospital with COVID-19 in the Yukon.

As of Wednesday, there were 471 active cases, but officials warn that there are many more cases not tracked in these numbers due to rapid testing and people being advised to assume they have COVID-19 if they have symptoms, and to skip testing.

The Yukon government has stopped posting exposure notices, as it says on its website that there's community transmission in the territory.

However, the government said it will keep posting school and childcare exposure letters. There are currently multiple facilities with exposure notices posted to its website.

The following schools have either entirely or partially moved to temporaryremote learning:

• Elijah Smith Elementary School, set to return to in-person learning on Jan. 18.
• Golden Horn Elementary School, set to return to in-person learning on Jan. 19.
• J.V. Clark School's elementary portion of the school continued in-person learning, but the secondary portion is set to return to in-person learning on Jan. 18.
• Jack Hulland Elementary School, set to return to in-person learning on Jan. 18.
• Ross River School,set to return to in-person learning on Jan. 18.
• Selkirk Elementary School has one class moved to temporary remote learning, the Grade 1/2 English stream, and it's set to return to in-person learning on Jan. 19.

The territory notes on its website that some students might still be able to attend in person, such as children of essential service workers, students with diverse learning needs, and students in shared resource programs, and more. People are encouraged to contact their school administration for details.

Right now, the territory says students and staff who test positive for COVID-19 don't have to notify the school or others at school.

As well, it says schools can't use the test result information of students or staff members to notify others for privacy reasons.

Instead, the territory says on its website that people who are contacting their school to notify them of an absence, can "let the school know it is due to illness and if you choose, indicate it is due to a positive COVID-19 test."