36 Abbotsford schools flagged for COVID-19 exposures in the last 2 weeks, shattering record

A total of 36 Abbotsford schools have been flagged by Fraser Health for COVID exposures in the last two weeks, shattering the previous record of 27.

Thirty out of the city’s 46 public schools (65 per cent) have recorded incidents of infected persons being within the school since April 23, according to Fraser Health’s website.

While Fraser Health does not list any of these incidents as clusters (evidence of transmission between two people) or outbreaks, many schools have been flagged continuously, in some cases for the majority of 11 school days in question.

W.J. Mouat Secondary, Ten Broeck Elementary, Clayburn Middle and Godson Elementary have recorded five exposures each; Yale Secondary, Abbotsford Middle and Dasmesh Punjabi have recorded six each; and Abbotsford Christian has recorded 8.

The worst affected school, however, has been Clearbrook Elementary which recorded an “exposure” on every one of the 11 days.

Ten Broeck Elementary was forced to functionally close on Friday, May 7, due to “operational limitations resulting from a number of staff and students having to self isolate at home. It also lists its incidents as exposures.

Not a single school, in any of the 13 public school districts under the Fraser Health Authority, currently lists any COVID incident as a cluster or outbreak.

Public health officials were criticized last week for withholding COVID data from the public, after a detailed data package was leaked to the Vancouver Sun.

They held an emergency press meeting on Friday afternoon, where they stated they would make more data available.

Abbotsford and Surrey are currently the biggest COVID hotspots in B.C.

Exposures at Abbotsford public schools: