Hope Secondary School is once again listed on Fraser Health’s COVID-19 school exposure website.
This is the second exposure to the virus that has happened at Hope Secondary, the first was on Oct. 30. The second exposure is listed as having happened on Nov. 11 and 12.
Read more: Fraser Health school exposures website
The Nov. 11 and 12 exposure is the third COVID-19 exposure event at SD78 schools. Agassiz Elementary Secondary School reported a positive case of COVID-19 at the school, with the individual who tested positive having been at the school Nov. 4, 5 and 6.
In a Nov. school board meeting, Balan Moorthy reiterated that students are safe in SD78 schools and that as the pandemic continues, he wants to see students continue to attend in person.
“Schools are one of the safest places our kids can be. When we consider where the sources of infection are coming from, it’s really coming from outside the community,” Moorthy said. “And that’s echoed by public health, that’s echoed by science, that the schools are the places that we want our kids to be because of learning.”
No other cases of COVID-19 came out of the two exposure events Moorthy said, referencing the late October event at Hope Secondary and the early November event at Agassiz Elementary Secondary. The district has had a very low exposure rate, he said, adding that “the only exposure rates have occured when those children have stepped out of the school environment and have perhaps gone to something public.”
An exposure, as defined by Fraser Health, is “a single person with [a] lab-confirmed COVID-19 infection who attended school during their infectuous period” according to a presentation shared by Moorthy. This compared to a cluster, where there are two or more with confirmed COVID-19 infections having attended school, and an outbreak which involves multiple people with confirmed COVID-19 infections and with transmission likely being widespread throughout the school. There have been very few outbreaks in schools in B.C., Moorthy said, and a few clusters including in Surrey schools.
The Hope Standard has reached out to the Fraser Cascade school district (SD78) and Fraser Health for further information. This story will be updated when we hear back.
Read more: COVID-19 exposure event at Hope Secondary
More to follow.
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