Three Coquitlam high schools have been added to the Fraser Health COVID-19 school exposure portal, raising the number of schools touched by the virus across School District 43 to 26.
Exposures were flagged at Terry Fox secondary in Port Coquitlam on Oct. 26, 27, 28 and 29; and in Coquitlam at Gleneagle secondary Oct. 22, 26, 27, and 28, as well as the Coquitlam Alternative Basic Education Facility (CABE) Oct. 23 and 26.
Fraser Health is actively investigating 12 schools across the district.
Nearly 40% of the SD43's schools have now been hit with an exposure event.
“An exposure is defined as a single person with a lab-confirmed COVID-19 infection who attended school during their infectious period. Exposure dates listed for a school exposure on our website may include one case or more, depending on the situation,” a Fraser Health spokesperson explained in an email to the Tri-City News.
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.
An “outbreak” at a school means “multiple individuals with lab-confirmed COVID-19 infection” and that “transmission is likely widespread.”
The three new exposures come after a record-breaking 1,120 new cases across the province were reported over the weekend. Of those, 830 were attributed to Fraser Health, a health authority which stretches from Boston Bar to Burnaby and includes the Tri-Cities.
With case numbers rising, exposure notices have recently been posted for a Port Moody restaurant, two Tri-City senior care homes and a Port Coquitlam school, raising concerns about COVID-19 in the Tri-Cities.
In response to questions from the media, Dr. Gustafson acknowledged that people want more information and she said staff are “working hard on trying to provide more granular information.”
“The more information you have about your community, the more empowered you are to take precautions as needed,” Dr. Gustafson said.
Fraser Health school exposures:
Map by Gary McKenna/Tri-City News
- With files from Diane Strandberg
