Just two New Westminster public schools remain without COVID-19 exposures in the 2021/22 school year.
Connaught Heights Elementary School was added to the Fraser Health school exposure list today (Nov. 10), for an exposure or exposures that happened Nov. 3, 4 and 5. This most recent addition to the list appears to involve more than one case, as a self-monitoring letter sent to some members of the school community (as published in the B.C. School COVID Tracker database) mentions only Nov. 5 – suggesting Nov. 3 and 4 were a separate exposure or exposures.
Connaught Heights had a quiet year on the COVID-19 front in the 2020/21 school year, when it appeared in the exposures list just once.
Its addition to the 2021/22 list brings the total of School District 40 schools with exposures this school year to 10 – leaving just two (F.W. Howay Elementary and Queensborough Middle) that have yet to report exposures. By way of comparison, it took until Jan. 25 last school year before 10 of the district's schools were affected. (Last year, the two final holdouts were Lord Kelvin Elementary School, in March, and Connaught Heights, in May.)
An "exposure" means that someone who has since tested positive for COVID-19 was in the school during their potentially infectious period on the date or dates in question and that other people may be at risk of having come in contact with the virus. Health officials do not publish the number of cases involved, so it's not known whether the dates involve one person or multiple cases.
The New Westminster school district has reported public health data showing that, as of Oct. 28, there had been 42 cases of COVID-19 in district schools involving children: 30 in the 11-and-under group, and 12 in the 12-to-18 group.
The district has also seen three "clusters," meaning that two or more cases were found to be related or that in-school transmission couldn't be ruled out.
Two independent schools in the city, Al-Hidayah School and Urban Academy, have also seen exposures in this school year.
COVID EXPOSURES IN NEW WESTMINSTER SCHOOLS
Here’s what has transpired in the 2021/22 school year so far in New Westminster:
- École Qayqayt Elementary: Sept. 8 (reported by B.C. School COVID Tracker; predated change to Fraser Health notifications)
- École Qayqayt Elementary: Sept. 20, 21, 22 (reported by B.C. School COVID Tracker; predated change to Fraser Health notifications)
- Urban Academy (independent): Sept. 22, 23, 24 (reported on Fraser Health site Sept. 29)
- Herbert Spencer Elementary: Sept. 21 (reported on Fraser Health site Oct. 1)
- Lord Kelvin Elementary: Sept. 24 (reported on Fraser Health site Sept. 29)
- Lord Tweedsmuir Elementary: Sept. 21, 22, 23, 24 (reported on Fraser Health site Oct. 1; B.C. School COVID Tracker confirms this is at least three separate cases)
- New Westminster Secondary: Sept. 22, 23, 24 (reported on Fraser Health site Oct. 3)
- Lord Kelvin Elementary: Sept. 22, 23, 28 (dates added on Fraser Health site Oct. 3)
- New Westminster Secondary: Sept. 28 (date added on Fraser Health site Oct. 4)
- Urban Academy (independent): Sept. 27, 28 (dates added on Fraser Health site Oct. 1)
- Glenbrook Middle School: Sept. 25, 26, 28, 29, Oct. 1 (listed on Fraser Health site Oct. 7)
- École Qayqayt Elementary School: Sept. 27, 28, 29, Oct. 1 (dates added on Fraser Health site Oct. 7)
- Skwo:wech Elementary School: Sept. 23, 24, 27, 28, 29 (listed on Fraser Health site Oct. 7)
- École Qayqayt Elementary School: Oct. 4,5 (listed on Fraser Health site Oct. 9; B.C. School COVID Tracker confirms this is at least two separate exposures)
- New Westminster Secondary: Oct. 4, 5, 6 (dates added on Fraser Health site Oct. 9)
- École Qayqayt Elementary School: Oct. 5, 6, 7, 8 (B.C. School COVID Tracker confirms at least two separate exposures involving this date range, with emails sent Oct. 11)
- École Qayqayt Elementary School: Oct. 6, 7, 8, 11, 12 (separate case from above; one full class sent into isolation)
- Fraser River Middle School: Oct. 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15 (reported on Fraser Health site Oct. 19)
- Lord Kelvin Elementary School: Oct. 14, 15 (reported on Fraser Health site Oct. 20)
- New Westminster Secondary School: Oct. 15, 18 (added on Fraser Health site Oct. 22)
- New Westminster Secondary School: Oct. 13, 19, 20 (added on Fraser Health site Oct. 23)
- Urban Academy (independent): Oct. 18, 19 (added on Fraser Health site Oct. 24)
- New Westminster Secondary School: Oct. 21 (added on Fraser Health site Oct. 27)
- Al-Hidayah (independent): Oct. 18, 20, 21, 22 (added on Fraser Health site Oct. 27)
- Al-Hidayah (independent): Oct. 25 (added on Fraser Health site Oct. 31)
- École Qayqayt Elementary School: Oct. 25, 26 (added on Fraser Health site Nov. 2)
- Lord Kelvin Elementary School: Nov. 1, 2, 3 (added on Fraser Health site Nov. 8)
- Queen Elizabeth Elementary School: Nov. 1, 2 (added on Fraser Health site Nov. 8)
- Skwo:wech Elementary School: Nov. 1, 2, 3, 4 (added on Fraser Health site Nov. 9)
- Connaught Heights Elementary School: Nov. 3, 4, 5 (added on Fraser Health site Nov. 10)
WHERE TO FIND OUT ABOUT NEW WESTMINSTER SCHOOL EXPOSURES
Fraser Health
New Westminster school exposures will be listed at Fraser Health’s school exposures webpage.
B.C. School COVID Tracker
This parent-run database uses information provided directly by parents and verified by official health authority letters. There's a searchable database online.
Exposure Watch
This site, created by New Westminster parent Gabriel Bauman, provides a listing of COVID-19 "hotspots" in B.C. schools, as well as a search function to find out school-specific information. Parents can also sign up for exposure alerts and report exposures. (Note that the listings may include both confirmed and unconfirmed exposures; they are identified as such, with confirmed exposures including documentation.)
Follow Julie MacLellan on Twitter @juliemaclellan.
Email Julie, [email protected].
