ABOUT SOS ALBERTA COVID-19 SCHOOL TRACKER
Who is Support Our Students Alberta?
We are a non-profit, non-partisan, grassroots advocacy organization. Our organization is run entirely by volunteers. Our main goal is defending public education through citizen engagement, promoting awareness, and advocating for equitable, accessible and SAFER public education for all students in Alberta. SOS volunteers are public education advocates from many areas: parents, community members, educators, students, professionals, grandparents, neighbours, citizens at large.
What is the COVID-19 School Tracker?
The tracker, launched Sept. 1, 2020, is a non-exhaustive, crowdsourced compilation of school-related COVID-19 positive cases in Alberta’s K-12 schools. Our website’s home page features a chronological, daily running list of case reports. It also features a running tally (grand total) of all schools that reported at least one case since August 30, 2020, AND a running total of schools that reported cases only in the past 2 weeks as a proxy indicator of most recent cases.
Another feature is an interactive map showing Alberta schools with cases.
The tracker also comprises of:
- A master list of all schools with cases alphabetized by name
- Another list of all schools with cases only in the past 2 weeks
- Lists of all schools that have reported cases within a certain Alberta Health Services designated region (North Zone, Edmonton Zone, Calgary Zone, Central Zone, and South Zone)
- List of schools that have declared an “alert (outbreak prior to Jan 18)” or moved up to “outbreak (watch prior to Jan 18” and beyond.
- Graphical summaries of data
What is the purpose of the school tracker?
The school tracker is a citizen-driven project that aims to quantify the effect of school re-opening in Alberta, and to assess the viability and effectiveness of protecting students within Alberta schools for the school year 2020-21.
We believe that transparent, up-to-date public information is extremely valuable when it comes to the safety of students and education workers. Information helps families & workers make informed decisions and assists policymakers in crafting sound, evidence-based policy. We believe all students should have access to safe schools without jeopardizing physical or mental health. Furthermore, cross-province data is important to understand the full impact of COVID-19 on students this school year.. The ripple effects of exposure to cases are far-reaching and have significant impacts on learning stability, and the livelihoods of families.
We commit to protecting the identity of individuals impacted while ensuring information that is a matter of pertinent public health is reported to the public.
What types of schools do you include?
We post cases from K-12 schools in Alberta from any school division that provides reports: public, separate, francophone, colony, First Nations, charter, and private (independent).
Do you include daycares?
We only report cases from daycares that are physically attached to a K-12 school.
Are your listings verified?
Each report is verified through one or more of the following means:
- independent submissions of official printed communications released from the school, school division, or Alberta Health Services
- credible media report from a credible news outlet
- announcement on the school or school division’s social media or website
- some correspondence is not posted to protect sensitive identities
How frequently is the tracker updated?
When school is in session, we update the website multiple times each week day with new case reports plus changes in case status (alert, outbreak or outbreak tier 2).
Weekend updates occur at least once per day.
We also release social media updates from our Facebook and Twitter accounts (@SOSAlberta).
OTHER FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Can you also report “recovered” or “active” cases?
We provide a general proxy of most recent cases by providing a count of all schools that have only reported cases in the past 2 weeks.
Since we don't have access to health recovery information, we cannot do that guesswork of which specific cases are recovered.
That is outside the scope of verifiable information that is accessible to us. The government of Alberta is not currently releasing health status information, nor are they naming schools that are “recovered” or “returned to zero active cases.” As such, we cannot speculate on patient health recoveries.
Who runs the tracker?
We are a group of volunteers carrying on this massive project on our own time and resources. We care deeply about transparency and empowerment of the public through data and evidence. Several of our tracker-specific volunteers have research and data collection training and we are grateful for their expertise and commitment to the cause as this is a labour-intensive undertaking.
Why are there occasional variations in the descriptions on the home page (e.g. “one case confirmed, tested positive)?
As we are not health authorities, we aim to report without introducing our own interpretation biases. Thus, the wording variations represent our attempt to paraphrase the written reports as closely as possible.
Are your reports accurate?
We do our best to maintain accuracy and timeliness to the best of our abilities, especially as volunteers working on this project with many moving parts. Volunteers are not liable if information submitted is not accurate. We do our best to confirm information provided and trust that those sending information are doing so in good faith.
Are submissions about school cases anonymous?
We respect the confidentiality of all correspondence sent to us. Personal details such as email addresses, names, or demographics of informants are not published.
Why is there a discrepancy between your numbers and the Government of Alberta’s case numbers?
We count all schools that have reported at least one case since August 30, 2020. The government tracker only lists schools that have declared an ALERT (used to be called outbreak prior to Jan 18) which is 2 or more cases in 14 days as determined by the local Minister of Health. They don’t list schools with only one case although they did announce this would be a feature they would provide "eventually."
We have also seen that some outbreaks, though declared, never make it to the GoA map.
We do not have access to exact active case numbers per school, but we only report what is submitted to us. We are not privy to Alberta Health’s patient information and as such as rely on reports sent to us or posted on the media which are broader in scope.
What is an Alert? Versus an Outbreak?
We follow Alberta Health Services’ designations. Please note the Government changed the language and thresholds as of January 18, 2021.
Alert: 1-4 cases
Outbreak: 5-9 cases, or 10+ cases (outbreak tier 2)
Descriptions can be found on their website.
Prior to Jan 18:
outbreak: 2-4 cases
outbreak watch: 5+ cases
within 14 day period
What is the difference between “alert reported (2-4 cases)” versus “alert listed on GoA website?”
We have found that local health authorities will declare an outbreak through official AHS communications but there can be a delay with reporting on the provincial list on the Government of Alberta’s website. We list this discrepancy as a result of the local (regional) health authorities’ declarations sometimes being ahead of the province-wide authority. Other times, a local health authority may implement the linkage of cases component, while the province wide authority does not deem multiple cases as qualifying as an outbreak.
Can you add numbers of individuals isolating or schools that have shown in-school transmission of COVID-19?
Again, these types of data, though extremely important for public interest, are not available to us at this time. The government is not currently releasing this information.
We encourage citizens to advocate to their elected officials to call on the government of Alberta to release these details, including number of individuals that must isolate from potential exposure to COVID-19 in schools, and the identities of schools that have shown in-school transmission.
Is every school in Alberta on your list?
We only list schools that have reported positive cases. If your school is not on the list, we may not have received a case report for that school yet.
I support your cause. How can I volunteer?
We are grateful to all members of the public who send us information about COVID-19 cases. We rely on citizen advocacy to maintain our school tracker.
If you have a specific skillset that you can contribute directly to this project or other SOS initiatives, please submit a brief CV detailing your interests.
Who is Support Our Students Alberta?
We are a non-profit, non-partisan, grassroots advocacy organization. Our organization is run entirely by volunteers. Our main goal is defending public education through citizen engagement, promoting awareness, and advocating for equitable, accessible and SAFER public education for all students in Alberta. SOS volunteers are public education advocates from many areas: parents, community members, educators, students, professionals, grandparents, neighbours, citizens at large.
What is the COVID-19 School Tracker?
The tracker, launched Sept. 1, 2020, is a non-exhaustive, crowdsourced compilation of school-related COVID-19 positive cases in Alberta’s K-12 schools. Our website’s home page features a chronological, daily running list of case reports. It also features a running tally (grand total) of all schools that reported at least one case since August 30, 2020, AND a running total of schools that reported cases only in the past 2 weeks as a proxy indicator of most recent cases.
Another feature is an interactive map showing Alberta schools with cases.
The tracker also comprises of:
- A master list of all schools with cases alphabetized by name
- Another list of all schools with cases only in the past 2 weeks
- Lists of all schools that have reported cases within a certain Alberta Health Services designated region (North Zone, Edmonton Zone, Calgary Zone, Central Zone, and South Zone)
- List of schools that have declared an “alert (outbreak prior to Jan 18)” or moved up to “outbreak (watch prior to Jan 18” and beyond.
- Graphical summaries of data
What is the purpose of the school tracker?
The school tracker is a citizen-driven project that aims to quantify the effect of school re-opening in Alberta, and to assess the viability and effectiveness of protecting students within Alberta schools for the school year 2020-21.
We believe that transparent, up-to-date public information is extremely valuable when it comes to the safety of students and education workers. Information helps families & workers make informed decisions and assists policymakers in crafting sound, evidence-based policy. We believe all students should have access to safe schools without jeopardizing physical or mental health. Furthermore, cross-province data is important to understand the full impact of COVID-19 on students this school year.. The ripple effects of exposure to cases are far-reaching and have significant impacts on learning stability, and the livelihoods of families.
We commit to protecting the identity of individuals impacted while ensuring information that is a matter of pertinent public health is reported to the public.
What types of schools do you include?
We post cases from K-12 schools in Alberta from any school division that provides reports: public, separate, francophone, colony, First Nations, charter, and private (independent).
Do you include daycares?
We only report cases from daycares that are physically attached to a K-12 school.
Are your listings verified?
Each report is verified through one or more of the following means:
- independent submissions of official printed communications released from the school, school division, or Alberta Health Services
- credible media report from a credible news outlet
- announcement on the school or school division’s social media or website
- some correspondence is not posted to protect sensitive identities
How frequently is the tracker updated?
When school is in session, we update the website multiple times each week day with new case reports plus changes in case status (alert, outbreak or outbreak tier 2).
Weekend updates occur at least once per day.
We also release social media updates from our Facebook and Twitter accounts (@SOSAlberta).
OTHER FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Can you also report “recovered” or “active” cases?
We provide a general proxy of most recent cases by providing a count of all schools that have only reported cases in the past 2 weeks.
Since we don't have access to health recovery information, we cannot do that guesswork of which specific cases are recovered.
That is outside the scope of verifiable information that is accessible to us. The government of Alberta is not currently releasing health status information, nor are they naming schools that are “recovered” or “returned to zero active cases.” As such, we cannot speculate on patient health recoveries.
Who runs the tracker?
We are a group of volunteers carrying on this massive project on our own time and resources. We care deeply about transparency and empowerment of the public through data and evidence. Several of our tracker-specific volunteers have research and data collection training and we are grateful for their expertise and commitment to the cause as this is a labour-intensive undertaking.
Why are there occasional variations in the descriptions on the home page (e.g. “one case confirmed, tested positive)?
As we are not health authorities, we aim to report without introducing our own interpretation biases. Thus, the wording variations represent our attempt to paraphrase the written reports as closely as possible.
Are your reports accurate?
We do our best to maintain accuracy and timeliness to the best of our abilities, especially as volunteers working on this project with many moving parts. Volunteers are not liable if information submitted is not accurate. We do our best to confirm information provided and trust that those sending information are doing so in good faith.
Are submissions about school cases anonymous?
We respect the confidentiality of all correspondence sent to us. Personal details such as email addresses, names, or demographics of informants are not published.
Why is there a discrepancy between your numbers and the Government of Alberta’s case numbers?
We count all schools that have reported at least one case since August 30, 2020. The government tracker only lists schools that have declared an ALERT (used to be called outbreak prior to Jan 18) which is 2 or more cases in 14 days as determined by the local Minister of Health. They don’t list schools with only one case although they did announce this would be a feature they would provide "eventually."
We have also seen that some outbreaks, though declared, never make it to the GoA map.
We do not have access to exact active case numbers per school, but we only report what is submitted to us. We are not privy to Alberta Health’s patient information and as such as rely on reports sent to us or posted on the media which are broader in scope.
What is an Alert? Versus an Outbreak?
We follow Alberta Health Services’ designations. Please note the Government changed the language and thresholds as of January 18, 2021.
Alert: 1-4 cases
Outbreak: 5-9 cases, or 10+ cases (outbreak tier 2)
Descriptions can be found on their website.
Prior to Jan 18:
outbreak: 2-4 cases
outbreak watch: 5+ cases
within 14 day period
What is the difference between “alert reported (2-4 cases)” versus “alert listed on GoA website?”
We have found that local health authorities will declare an outbreak through official AHS communications but there can be a delay with reporting on the provincial list on the Government of Alberta’s website. We list this discrepancy as a result of the local (regional) health authorities’ declarations sometimes being ahead of the province-wide authority. Other times, a local health authority may implement the linkage of cases component, while the province wide authority does not deem multiple cases as qualifying as an outbreak.
Can you add numbers of individuals isolating or schools that have shown in-school transmission of COVID-19?
Again, these types of data, though extremely important for public interest, are not available to us at this time. The government is not currently releasing this information.
We encourage citizens to advocate to their elected officials to call on the government of Alberta to release these details, including number of individuals that must isolate from potential exposure to COVID-19 in schools, and the identities of schools that have shown in-school transmission.
Is every school in Alberta on your list?
We only list schools that have reported positive cases. If your school is not on the list, we may not have received a case report for that school yet.
I support your cause. How can I volunteer?
We are grateful to all members of the public who send us information about COVID-19 cases. We rely on citizen advocacy to maintain our school tracker.
If you have a specific skillset that you can contribute directly to this project or other SOS initiatives, please submit a brief CV detailing your interests.