Important Reminder regarding the Online Screening Tool

The impact of COVID-19, as well as the increase in other respiratory illnesses, continues to impact the health and well-being of employees, children and families within the Umbrella. Please find here a resource from Hamilton Public Health Services related to Respiratory Illness Prevention, we encourage families to review the information.

Although many COVID restrictions have been lifted, we wanted to remind families regarding the recommendation to continue to self-screen using the online screening tool every day before attending school or child care. The online screening tool has been updated and will provide direction on whether or not your child should stay home or can attend childcare, as well as any next steps should they need to stay home due to being unwell. While the screening tool was developed in response to COVID-19, the tool does still screen for many other illnesses and does still require isolation or masking requirements when individuals present symptoms.

Anyone who is feeling sick or has any new or worsening symptoms of illness, including those not listed in the online screening tool, should stay home until their symptoms are improving for at least 24 hours (or 48 hours for nausea, vomiting, and/or diarrhea) and they do not have a fever, and seek assessment from their health care provider if needed. The presence of symptoms, particularly respiratory symptoms, increases the risk of transmitting to others.

If a child exhibits symptoms while at childcare, staff may be required to screen them using the online screening tool. If they do not pass the screen they will need to be picked up and can return to care following the same guidelines as above.

If you have any questions, please contact your Site Supervisor. Contact information for each site can be found here.