COVID-19 and Boys and Girls Clubs
We’d like to provide you with another update regarding Coronavirus COVID-19. Although the Public Health Agency of Canada has assessed the public health risk as low for Canada, we continue to monitor developments very closely, and continue to take precautions at our club locations.
As you may know, the Nova Scotia government released additional information about COVID-19 today. At this time, there remains no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia, and there has been no notification about potential school closures from either the Halifax Regional Centre for Education nor the NS Department of Education. Public health officials continue to emphasize handwashing and other preventative measures as the best way to reduce the spread of germs.
Our program teams will continue to work with your kids to ensure proper and frequent handwashing technique is carried out by everyone while in club programs, and we’re making it part of our regular education and programming about self-care. We realize some kids may have heard about COVID-19 and may be worried about it. We’re not focusing on the name COVID-19 in our programs. We are focusing on proper handwashing and how not to share germs while sneezing or coughing, and teaching kids not to share water bottles or food. During our March Break camps next week, our clubs are not participating in any out-of-province trips or activities. Our staff are regularly cleaning club surfaces such as tables, chairs, door handles, and light switches.
As always, the health and safety of our club kids is our number one priority. We will follow new measures announced by the provincial government today: If you or your children have travelled and been out of the country, they are not permitted to attend our programs or club locations for 14 days after you arrive home. You will have to make alternate arrangements for the 14 day period. You must notify us if you have travelled internationally. Also, Boys and Girls Club employees who are returning from any international trip cannot return to work for 14 days and must self-isolate at home.
If your child is sick, please keep them at home! This is the same message we are giving to our employees, and a practice we follow at any time of year.
As new information becomes available, we will share it with you as quickly as we can. Please note that decisions such as potential program interruptions or site closures may come with very short notice, so please continue to monitor your email regularly for updates from us. We appreciate your working with us to help everyone stay in good health.
We continue to monitor updates on COVID-19 from the HRCE and the federal and provincial governments. You may find some of these public health links useful: From the Government of Canada: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection.html ; from the Nova Scotia Department of Health: https://novascotia.ca/coronavirus/#alerts ; and from the Halifax Regional Centre for Education: https://www.hrce.ca/coronavirus
Thank you,
Veronica McNeil, Director of Operations
Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Halifax
Henk van Leeuwen CEO,
Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Halifax