Four more Burnaby schools have seen recent COVID-19 exposures.
According to the Fraser Health’s school exposures site, three Burnaby schools were added to the list, while parents at a fourth school recently received a notification letter.
Here are the three listed on the Fraser Health site:
Armstrong Elementary, with the exposure dates listed as Oct. 19 and 20.
Burnaby Central Secondary, with the exposure dates listed as Oct. 19-22.
Ecole Alpha, with the exposure dates listed as Oct. 20.
Alpha also saw someone with COVID-19 attend the school on Oct. 13 and 14.
Parents at Byrne Creek Community School received a notice about an exposure on Oct. 19 (See attached photo of the notice.)
Previously, parents at Burnaby North Secondary were told someone infected with the virus was at the school on Oct. 8 and 9.
Westridge Elementary parents were alerted to an exposure on Oct. 9.
In all cases, the Fraser Health Authority sent out early notification notices telling parents that public health officials had initiated contact tracing to identify any staff or students who needed to self-isolate or self-monitor for symptoms.
Letters from school principals said the infected individuals were self-isolating at home but that no more information would be provided for privacy reasons. The letters urged parents to continue daily health checks with their kids before sending them to school.
Fraser Health told parents that students should keep coming to school during contract tracing.
Burnaby school board chair Gary Wong has urged everyone in the community to continue washing their hands, wearing a mask when required and staying home when they are sick.
"I want to, again, emphasize the importance of caring for and protecting each other," he told the NOW in an emailed statement.
School exposures are listed at the Fraser Health school exposures webpage here.
A general shutdown of schools in British Columbia isn’t on the horizon in the face of rising COVID-19 case numbers and a crackdown on social gatherings.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry reiterated that message at a media briefing on Thursday, held in Surrey amidst rising concern over case numbers in the Fraser Health region – which spans the area from Burnaby to Boston Bar.
“We are not at a place where we need to consider things in terms of closing schools,” Henry said.
“We are at a place where we need to focus our attention in the community to make sure we’re doing everything we can to keep those priority things open, like our schools and our businesses. That’s the action we need to take now, is to focus on what we can do to reduce the rates in our community and protect those priority, important functions in our community that keep our community well.
“We know schools are an important part of that.”
- With files from Cornelia Naylor and Julie MacLellan
