A Coquitlam secondary school has seen more COVID-19 exposure dates added as the Fraser Health region grapples with the virus.
The latest set of COVID-19 exposures occurred at Pinetree secondary on Oct. 26, 28 and 29, according to the Fraser Health school exposure portal.
Previous exposures at the school had been flagged for Oct. 15,16,19 and 20.
The additional dates means Fraser Health is actively investigating exposures at 11 schools across SD43, six in Coquitlam and five in Port Coquitlam.
The additional exposures come as Fraser Health is asking people to gather safely, foregoing even the “safe six” recommended by provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry as contact tracers ramp up to identify those who have been in contact with COVID-19.
PLEA FOR SAFETY PROTOCOLS
In recent weeks, more than 200 additional contact tracers have been hired, 150 have been redeployed from other jobs and 40 provincial staff have been added to beef up contact tracing in the region, which has seen the most COVID-19 cases thus far.
“Whether it’s happening at private gatherings or work sites, we are seeing a signifiant transmission in our community,” said Fraser Health president and CEO Dr. Victoria Lee in a press conference with reporters Tuesday. “I’d like to reemphasize: take a pause look at our private gatherings and even at those workplaces where there might be some gaps.”
Acknowledging that businesses have done a good job in re-opening safely, Lee suggested more could be done and asked, “if we could have reexamination for those vulnerability points, that would be appreciated,” Lee said.
Among the concerns she mentioned are people not separating with two metres of physical during lunch breaks.
THREE HIGH SCHOOLS REPORT EXPOSURES
School District 43 meanwhile has published an extensive list of its protocols, and while there have been exposures in dozens of schools, there has been no evidence of transmission in any of those cases.
So far the only schools where there has been transmission was at a French-language school in Kelowna and a private school in Chilliwack. The two schools were closed because of "exposures affecting larger numbers of staff and teachers,” Dr. Bonnie Henry said at the time.
Earlier this week, exposure were reported at three SD43 high schools, including Terry Fox, CABE and Gleneagle.
“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.”
For a map of SD43 exposures see below:
Fraser Health school exposures:
Map by Gary McKenna/Tri-City News
