Families from the Highland Secondary School community in Comox have received a letter about a potential COVID-19 exposure.
The letter from medical health officers was sent to parents, guardians, families and staff at Highland on May 17 to say that a member of the school community has tested positive for the coronavirus.
There were several dates listed for potential exposure: May 3 to 7 and May 10 to 14. The letter states that for privacy reasons, officials cannot give out any more detailed information.
Island Health notes in the letter that they are completing contact tracing to identify and contact any students or staff who need to self-isolate or self-monitor for symptoms. As with previous exposure letters, the letter states that receiving the letter does not indicate a child has been exposed, only that officials want to share information and advise people of any next steps. Recipients are encouraged to monitor themselves for any COVID symptoms.
As of midday May 18, the school was not listed on Island Health’s school exposures page, which has four listed, the closest of which is in Campbell River. These stay on the list for 14 days until after the last date of exposure.
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COVID cases have been falling lately compared with a month earlier, when there were typically more than 1,000 new cases a day. The daily new case total was 424 from May 17. Of these, 13 were in the Island Health region, according to the province’s COVID-19 dashboard,
There had been several schools in the Comox Valley with potential exposures during the early months of 2021. At one point, there were six schools identified over eight days.
In March, the school district hosted a virtual town hall with Dr. Sandra Allison and Dr. Charmaine Enns, Island Health medical health officers, to talk about the risks from the exposures. Some key findings were that the incidents had happened outside of schools and that there had been no secondary transmissions within schools.
mike.chouinard@comoxvalleyrecord.com
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