COVID-19 cases were reported at three Nanaimo schools on Sunday night.
Wellington Secondary School had COVID-19 exposure on Dec. 3-4, Forest Park Elementary had exposure Nov. 30-Dec. 4 and Randerson Ridge Elementary had exposure Dec. 2-4, according to social media posts from Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools.
The school district says Island Health is currently contact tracing.
The school district links to Island Health’s school exposures web page for further information.
Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools superintendent Scott Saywell offered a message via the school district’s YouTube channel in late November, saying that more cases in the community means a greater possibility of school exposures.
“If we are all diligent in following Dr. Henry’s recent order on province-wide restrictions, eliminating social interactions and travel and wearing a mask in public indoor settings, we can ensure that the likelihood of future school exposures is greatly reduced,” he said.
Saywell added that “transmission is not happening in our schools,” saying that of the 30,000 COVID-19 cases provincewide, only 600 have resulted in school exposures and only two per cent of school exposures have led to transmission of the virus at schools.
“Children are not effective transmitters of COVID, the protocols that we have in place are working and in fact children are safer in schools than anywhere else in the community,” Saywell said.
He thanked parents and caregivers for their patience and understanding, teachers and support staff for their compassion and commitment and administrators for their leadership.
To view the superintendent’s message, click here.
The week before, the school district shared reminders from Island Health, asking people to help reduce the transmission of COVID-19 by limiting social interactions to immediate households, wearing masks in all indoor public settings, washing hands frequently, limiting time in public places to essential trips, and self-isolating at home if sick.
Also that week, School District 69 (Qualicum) announced a COVID-19 case at Kwalikum Secondary with exposure dates of Nov. 18-19.
There were COVID-19 cases at five schools in Nanaimo-Ladysmith during November: Dover Bay, John Barsby and Ladysmith secondaries and Frank J. Ney and Randerson Ridge elementaries.
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