Coronavirus in New Westminster schools: Exposure at F.W. Howay

Update: F.W. Howay case adds to New Westminster COVID-19 school exposure count

One class at Qayqayt Elementary School is now in isolation after a Feb. 22/23 exposure, and five New West schools are currently on Fraser Health's school exposures list

F.W. Howay Elementary School has become the latest New Westminster school to report a COVID-19 exposure, relating to someone who was in the school Feb. 17 and 18. Jennifer Gauthier

Note: This story was updated at 12:25 p.m. with further information from the school district.

F.W. Howay Elementary School is the latest New Westminster school to report a COVID-19 exposure.

Someone with COVID-19 was at the school on Feb. 17 and 18, according to the latest information on the Fraser Health school exposures website.

The case brings the number of local schools currently on the list to five – the largest number of concurrent exposures in the district since before Christmas. Eight of the district's 12 schools have seen exposures in 2021, while two others (Lord Tweedsmuir and Queen Elizabeth elementary schools) had exposures before Christmas but have not seen any so far in the new year (as of this morning's Fraser Health update). Lord Kelvin and Connaught Heights elementary schools have yet to report exposures in the 2020/21 school year.

In the month of February, Richard McBride Elementary School had two reported exposures, while Glenbrook Middle School and New Westminster Secondary School both had multiple exposures involving several days of the month.

Qayqayt Elementary School now has one class in isolation after an exposure on Feb. 22 and 23, the New Westminster school district confirmed on March 3. It's just the second time in the 2020/21 school year that a full class in the district has been ordered into isolation; two classes at NWSS went into the winter break in isolation after an exposure there. There have also been a couple of self-isolation letters issued to specific individuals but not to full classes.