New Westminster schools are heading into March break with one new COVID-19 exposure notice – this one at Lord Kelvin Elementary School.
The exposure, which occurred March 3 and 4, is the first of the school year for Lord Kelvin.
Kelvin’s addition to the Fraser Health school exposures list leaves just one school in New Westminster – Connaught Heights Elementary – with no COVID-19 exposures so far this school year.
The past month has seen rising numbers of exposures after a relatively uneventful January, with a total of 19 exposure notifications sent out in the month between Feb. 9 and March 10. Those notifications affected six schools: New Westminster Secondary School with seven, Glenbrook Middle School with five, Richard McBride Elementary with three, Queensborough Middle School with two, and Qayqayt and F.W. Howay elementary schools with one apiece.
At the school board meeting Tuesday night, superintendent Karim Hachlaf noted the rising numbers of exposures in local schools were in line with rising transmission numbers in the community.
“Fingers crossed as we head into the break and warmer weather,” he said. “We are optimistic that after the break we can certainly hopefully see decreased numbers with transmission, and we’ll monitor that closely.”
The New Westminster school district has a two-week March break from March 15 to 26. Notifications for any further exposures that may have occurred leading up to the break will continue to be sent to school communities and will be posted on the Fraser Health website during the break.
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