Two classes at New Westminster Secondary School are finishing up the school term in isolation thanks to potential COVID-19 exposures.
The New Westminster school district sent out its first self-isolation letters of the year on Sunday evening after being contacted by Fraser Health. Families of affected students received emails and followup phone calls asking them to self-isolate for 14 days from the last date of exposure.
Self-isolation letters are sent in cases where contact tracing by health officials has determined there is a higher risk from contact with an infected person, based on the length of time of the exposure and the type of interaction the people involved have had.
The specifics of an individual COVID-19 case, including whether the person is a staff member or student, are not provided for privacy reasons.
Until now, the school district has not had to send any self-isolation letters, although numerous “self-monitor” letters have been sent in connection with exposures at local schools. Recipients of self-monitor letters are asked to watch for COVID-19 symptoms but can continue to attend school.
A report being presented to school board tonight (Tuesday, Dec. 15) shows that, since the beginning of the school year, self-monitor letters have been sent out 11 times at NWSS, four times at Glenbrook Middle, three times at Lord Tweedsmuir Elementary, twice at Queen Elizabeth Elementary and once each at Queensborough Middle and Qayqayt Elementary.
The NWSS self-isolation letters come in a week that has seen multiple school COVID-19 exposures reported in New Westminster.
Among them:
New Westminster Secondary School: Exposure Dec. 3, 4, 7
Lord Tweedsmuir Elementary School: Exposure Dec. 3, 4
F.W. Howay Elementary: Exposure Dec. 8, 9
Qayqayt Elementary: Exposure Dec. 3, 4
Glenbrook Middle School: Exposure Dec. 7
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