Five Coquitlam-area schools have been flagged with COVID-19 exposures in recent days, bringing to 15 the number of schools under investigation for coronavirus, according to Fraser Health.
School District 43 schools identified as having someone on school grounds who tested positive for coronavirus include a secondary school, a middle school and two elementary schools in Coquitlam and a middle school in Anmore.
Staff and parents are being informed even as schools wind down for winter break, with Friday, Dec. 18 the last day before schools are closed for two weeks, resuming on Monday, Jan. 4.
The schools newly listed on the Fraser Health web portal include:
• Centennial secondary, with Dec. 8, 9 and 10 dates;
• Banting middle with Dec. 9 and 10 dates;
• Miller Park elementary with an exposure date of Dec. 7;
• and Panorama elementary with an exposure date of Dec. 4.
As well, Eagle Mountain middle school in Anmore is reported as having exposure dates on Dec. 3 and 4.
Meanwhile, on the weekend, it was reported that the health authority had sent out early notification letters to the families of students at Dr. Charles Best secondary, indicating exposures on Dec. 3, 4 and 7.
According to the health authority, a school “exposure” usually indicates a single person with a lab-confirmed COVID-19 infection attended school during their infectious period.
A school “cluster,” on the other hand, indicates possible school-based transmission with two or more lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 attending school while infectious, and an “outbreak” indicates “multiple individuals with lab-confirmed COVID-19 infection” and that “transmission is likely widespread.”
There have been no clusters or outbreaks in School District 43 since school resumed in September.
