Asha Iserhienrhien worries about the health and safety of her four children when they are at school. 

“The kids are really getting sick every day and there are a lot of absences in the school,” said Iserhienrhien who works in the healthcare industry and is aware of the three respiratory viruses circulating in the province. 

“They should make them wear masks.” 

Her children attend École Elsie Mironuck Community School. Osano is in the fifth grade, Ambreza is in the fourth grade, Nosagie is in the first grade and Arousa is in pre-kindergarten. 

Terry Lazarou, supervisor of communications for Regina Public Schools said that they do not typically track student absenteeism in schools unless it is required by public health. 

“We have noticed that it is a slightly larger number than usually,” said Lazarou. 

“The way we know it is larger is that the administrators who have been recording this have been working and have been around the school division for some of them 20 years. So they have good experience. ” 

The Regina Catholic School Board could not be reached for comment. 

Iserhienrhien has noticed her children displaying flu symptoms. The children do not wear masks in school and Iserhienrhien thinks they should be required. 

“They should make it mandatory,” she said. 

Iserhienrhien’s concerns have grown with the recent shortage of children’s pain medication in Saskatchewan. 

“The shortage of the medicine, like Tylenol and Advil, it’s hard to get it,” said Iserhienrhien.

Pediatric doses of pain medications are on MedSask’s list of drug shortages and discontinuations. Pediatric acetaminophen was last updated on the list as of Oct. 12. Acetaminophen is a drug used to reduce fever and relieve mild or chronic pain. 

Even teaching staff at elementary schools have noticed a rise in absenteeism. 

“On average probably five or six kids away each day,” said Levi Reoch an education assistant at École Wilfrid Walker. 

 “Some days more, some days less.” 

Reoch is assigned to one student who has brittle bone syndrome. Within the classroom of 25 students, he has noticed several absences recently. 

He sees signs of sickness in almost all the students who are in class. 

“They are not wearing their masks anymore, and I think maybe their immune systems have not built up because no one was getting sick when they were wearing the masks,” said Reoch. 

Most staff and students in the classroom do not wear a mask, although Reoch wears a mask whenever any sick students are around or he is working with a sick student. He said that most of the other teachers do this as well.

In Saskatoon, Dr. Athena McConnell told Global News there is an increase in kids admitted into the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital emergency center for respiratory illness. The numbers are higher than they would have been over the summer. McConnell attributes this to relaxed COVID-19 protocols and the pain medication shortage within the province.  

According to SHA Public Health Physician Dr. Lanre Medu there are currently three circulating respiratory viruses confirmed in the latest provincial data. Confirmed influenza cases have increased by 35 per cent, with 61 per cent of these total cases in those 19 and under.

Pictured above are Asha Iserhienrhien, her husband Dion and their four children. Photo courtesy of Asha Iserhienrhien