In the last month, there have been nine COVID-19 exposures reported at Sunshine Coast School District No. 46 (SD46) schools, including four at Chatelech Secondary, three at Elphinstone Secondary, one at West Sechelt Elementary and one at the Sunshine Coast Alternative School.
As well, the House of Red Cedar Indigenous COVID-19 Outreach Program was notified of an April 6 exposure.
The most recent exposures took place at both West Sechelt Elementary and Elphinstone Secondary on May 11.
Exposures were reported at Chatelech Secondary for April 22, 23, 26, 27 and on April 26 and 27, April 26-28 and May 6.
The Sunshine Coast Alternative School exposure occurred on April 19.
At Elphinstone Secondary, a person who tested positive for COVID-19 was at the school on May 6 and 7.
On May 14, superintendent Patrick Bocking told Coast Reporter that a notice for an exposure on May 10 at Elphinstone Secondary was being sent to families that morning.
Once Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) contacts the school district, SD46 contacts the students and staff who may have come into direct contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. Then the rest of the school is informed. Those contacted will do 14 days of self-monitoring for symptoms. Anyone with symptoms should get tested for the virus. In the reported exposure cases, VCH has already done contact tracing.
Bocking said the district doesn’t know why there’s been a recent increase in exposures, but that they’ve been told by health authorities that “any exposures in schools is going to be an echo of what's happening in the community.
“It does feel like it's more,” Bocking said. “There's no reason to think that any of these are linked at the school, these are community events. Somehow people got infected and did come to school, but there's no indication that there's a spread within the school.”
Of the 13 total exposures in SD46 since the pandemic began, the incidents have mostly been at secondary schools. Bocking said the reason for that is likely because older students are out in the community more than grade school students. High school students may have jobs or be more social than younger students.
Safety measures will continue to be enforced at the schools. Bocking said the district continues to follow all of the protocols from VCH and the Ministry of Education, and all touch points are thoroughly cleaned daily.
“Everything is being done to make sure that that part of the community that we can control, which is in our schools, is very, very carefully controlled,” he said. “We're very exacting in making sure that that's the case so that we can say that, and very honestly so, that our schools are very safe places for our kids and for our staff.”
