New COVID exposures – again – for Richard McBride, Glenbrook schools in New West

Richard McBride Elementary School and Glenbrook Middle School have both received their second COVID-19 exposure notices of the week.

The two New Westminster school communities received notices April 12 that someone with COVID-19 was in the schools on April 8.

Those notices followed on the heels of earlier notifications regarding exposures on April 6 and 7.

As per standard protocol in school exposure cases, health officials now conduct their case and contact management, and anyone who is identified as a close contact of an infected person will be notified individually. Self-monitor and/or self-isolation letters will be issued as required to individuals, classes or cohorts.

The new notifications bring the total exposures in the school district since March break to six – two apiece at McBride, Glenbrook and New Westminster Secondary School. (Classes in the district resumed March 29 following the two-week spring break.)

The exposures come amidst the news of rising case numbers in Fraser Health as B.C. grapples with the pandemic's third wave. Teachers' union presidents in the region (which covers the territory from Burnaby to Boston Bar) are asking the province to mandate masks for all grades, to confirm when teachers will be vaccinated and to shift to Stage 3 of the B.C. education restart plan, which would see hybrid remote/in-person learning.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry reiterated during her April 12 briefing that keeping schools open remains a provincial priority.

"It is finding that balance of keeping things operating safely and making sure that we are supporting children as best we can,” she said. “The best thing we can do for this generation of children is to support their learning, their emotional and physical growth, in school.”

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