Two new COVID-19 exposures have been reported at New Westminster schools.
Fraser Health has issued exposure notices for Lord Tweedsmuir Elementary School and Queensborough Middle School.
Exposure notices mean that a member of the school community has tested positive for COVID-19 and that it has been determined they were in the school while infectious.
For Lord Tweedsmuir, the person was in the school Sept. 24 and 25; for Queensborough, the person was present Sept. 21 and 22. The exposures are now listed at the Fraser Health school exposures webpage.
That means four of the district’s 12 schools have had reported COVID-19 exposures since classes began Sept. 10. Last week, exposure notices were issued for Fraser River Middle School and New Westminster Secondary School.
When a COVID-19 case is reported in a school, families receive an “early warning notification” from their school administration. Fraser Health undertakes contact tracing to determine which, if any, members of the school community were in contact with the affected person and whether any of those people would be defined as “close contacts” who would be required to self-isolate.
Students should continue to attend school while contact tracing is underway. Families are reminded to continue their daily health checks to monitor students for illness before heading to school.
No specific details of the COVID-19 exposure are provided for privacy reasons.
Families should also note that an exposure notice does not mean the person was infected with COVID-19 while at school.
The Fraser Health website notes that an “exposure” means the case involves a single person with a lab-confirmed COVID-19 infection who attended school during their infectious period.
Two other levels of notification are also possible but have not been issued in any of the New Westminster cases thus far. A “cluster” would denote two or more people with lab-confirmed COVID-19 infections who attended school during the infectious period; the cases may be linked to school-based transmission.
An “outbreak,” meanwhile, would indicate multiple people with lab-confirmed COVID-19 infection when transmission is likely widespread within the school setting.
In all of those cases, public health takes charge of investigating the case and conducting contact tracing.
HERE'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A COVID-19 CASE IS REPORTED IN A SCHOOL
The school district previously issued this step-by-step guide to what happens when a COVID-19 case arises in a school:
- Fraser Health notifies the district of the cases and provides the dates to be aware of.
- The district connects Fraser Health with the school as part of the contact tracing process.
- An “early notification letter” is sent to every staff member and every family at each of the named schools.
- Fraser Health is continuing to do their work contract tracing, as only they can determine who is a close contact.
- The district and schools will work with Fraser Health to support any communication that might be necessary.
- Fraser Health will follow up directly with families if they determine anyone needs to self-monitor or self-isolate.
- If families at the named schools are not contacted by the Fraser Health Authority, it has been determined that your child is not at risk.
- All school exposures will be tracked and are available, in our region, at this site: https://www.fraserhealth.ca/health-topics-a-to-z/coronavirus/school-notifications#.X2ktuWhKiUk
