Three New Westminster schools join growing coronavirus exposure list

New Westminster schools are entering the final week before winter break with some new COVID-19 exposure notices – including a first for F.W. Howay Elementary.

The Fraser Health school exposures website listed a number of new exposure dates over the weekend for New Westminster schools.

Among them were new dates at New Westminster Secondary School, where COVID-19 exposure was reported Dec. 3, 4 and 7 – adding to a long list of dates at the high school throughout the fall.

Lord Tweedsmuir Elementary also saw another COVID-19 exposure Dec. 3 and 4, following numerous exposure dates in November. F.W. Howay Elementary saw its first exposure reported on Dec. 8 and 9.

Under the new reporting system in the Fraser Health region (which stretches from Burnaby to Boston Bar, including New Westminster), families at affected schools now receive one of three different types of “early notification” letters related to the exposure dates.

Once it’s confirmed a person who has tested positive for COVID-19 was in the school during their infectious period, families will receive word that they may have been “exposed” or “not exposed.” A “not exposed” letter means the affected person was in a different class or cohort and so exposure risk is considered minimal. An “exposed” letter means the person with COVID-19 was in the same class or cohort as the person receiving the letter – though it does not necessarily mean they have been designated a close contact.

A third type of general notification letter will be sent out in the event the infectious person is not associated with a specific class or cohort, such as a staff person who works across cohorts.

Fraser Health still does contact tracing and will follow up with further notification, as required, for anyone considered to be a close contact. Health officials may also issue “self-monitor” or “self-isolation” notices for various groups of students, as required.

The latest round of exposures means nine of the city’s 12 schools have seen COVID-19 exposures this fall. Three elementary schools – Connaught Heights, Herbert Spencer and Lord Kelvin – have yet to see exposures. There have also been no reported exposures at the district’s alternate programs.

WINTER BREAK COMING

This Friday, Dec. 18, marks the last day of classes before winter break. Students are scheduled to return to class on Jan. 4.

Although talk had surfaced about whether the winter break should be extended in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the province opted against the idea.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has continued to reiterate that the rising numbers of school exposures do not mean schools are unsafe.

“Those exposures still continue to reflect transmission in our communities, but we are not having large numbers of transmission events in schools,” she said in her Dec. 7 briefing. “Those are very small, very few. We’ve had few outbreaks in schools, but they’ve been limited in number.”

Henry said she had had discussions with many stakeholders about whether there was a rationale for closing schools early for winter break but decided against it.

“Schools really are a safe place and an important place for our educators and for our students,” she said. “We’ve made a decision that the downsides of it would be far greater than the safety and the protection of the education and the interaction that’s needed in the schools.”