A notice of a third COVID-19 exposure at Smithers Secondary School has been issued.
In an email to parents Dec. 29, principal Julie Krall reported the exposure occurred Dec. 18 and 19.
Krall noted Northern Health would not be sending out exposure letters during the holiday, but would be in contact directly with anyone who had been in close contact with the infected person.
Previous letters have stated the health authority defines close contact as anyone who has been in “direct, face-to-face contact for prolonged periods of time with an infectious case.”
Those who are notified by the health authority of close contact are required to self-monitor for symptoms for 14 days following an exposure. The self-monitoring end-date for the current exposure is Jan. 2.
The standard form letters also caution parents that exposure does not necessarily mean transmission.
“Exposure to a confirmed case does not mean you, or your child, will become, sick — and this is especially the case with children. COVID-19 has a very low infection rate in children and most are not at high risk. We expect to see COVID-19 cases in various community settings, including school settings, but we expect the risk of transmission in school to be low in most cases.”
The two previous Smithers Secondary exposures occured Dec. 7 and 10.
There have also been two exposures reported for Walnut Park Elementary School. The first was Dec. 9 – 10 and the second Dec. 13 – 15.
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