The province is currently recording its highest COVID numbers since the beginning of the pandemic, but as far as active cases in schools go, that's anyone's guess.

Despite a rapid rise in Omicron cases Kindergarten to Grade 12 students across the province returned to in-person learning this week with changes in place for school COVID notifications.

Officials say that Alberta Health Services (AHS) no longer has the capacity to inform families of COVID-19 infections in classes or schools therefore school cases won't be investigated moving forward.

In a letter, Principal of Springbank Middle School, Mary Magee outlines just what that means. 

"AHS will not be notifying schools of positive cases, has asked schools not to report positive cases to AHS and will not be declaring alerts or outbreaks or publishing this information on the government website as they have done previously," explains Magee.

Moving forward, students aren't required to notify schools if they've tested positive for COVID-19, however, families are still expected to inform schools if their child will be absent.

In her letter, Magee goes on to say that while AHS is no longer supporting outbreak management in schools, the Rocky View Schools (RVS) division will be monitoring student and staff attendance "as a means of identifying challenging situations." If RVS notes a large number of absences in a particular class or grade they may implement a temporary shift to at-home learning. 

Based on the province's recommendations, all off-site field trips are once again on hold and tournament-style sporting events are also paused until further notice.