After spring break ends, Tri-City schools hit with covid

Four Coquitlam area schools hit by COVID-19 on first day back to class after spring break

Exposure notices sent to three schools in Port Coquitlam and one in Port Moody in the first week back to class as the Tri-Cities grapples with record-high numbers of COVID-19 cases

Archbishop Carney Regional Secondary School in Port Coquitlam has been flagged with COVID-19 for five days following spring break.Google Maps

Four Coquitlam area schools have been hit with COVID-19 exposures in the first week back to class after spring break.

It didn’t take long for cases to pop up, with School District 43 seeing two cases in Port Coquitlam schools and one in a Port Moody high school Tuesday, April 6, the first day back to school.

And an independent school in Port Coquitlam, Archbishop Carney, with an earlier spring break, had cases on March 29, 30, 31, April 1, and April 6.

TESTING EVEN FOR MILD COVID-19 SYMPTOMS URGED

The exposures come as B.C. records some of the highest daily case counts since the pandemic started as more easily transmissible variants circulate in several health regions.

Fraser Health is reminding people to get tested even if they only have mild symptoms.

In a press release Friday, Fraser Health urged people to get tested — and then to isolate if they have COVID-19 — to prevent infection from the rapidly spreading virus.

“With high rates of COVID-19 transmission in our communities and increasing prevalence of variants of concern, testing is crucial at this time," wrote a spokesperson for the health authority.

"Testing characterizes the prevalence, spread and contagiousness of the disease in our communities. It tells us how many people are infected and what the level of risk is in our communities.”

Meanwhile, teachers are increasingly worried about catching COVID-19 in school and some were reported standing in line hoping to get leftover doses at Surrey clinics.

Not long after those teachers were turned away, a group of B.C. teaching professional organizations are called for more protections in schools, including an update on plans to vaccinate front line workers, which was stalled due to the pause in AstraZeneca shots for people under age 55.