Secondary schools in the Burnaby public school district had an especially rough week, with every single one being connected with a COVID-19 exposure by Fraser Health at some point.
Burnaby North Secondary School was recently taken off the list, but all the other high schools are still listed, including South, Central, Mountain, Cariboo Hill, Moscrop, Byrne Creek and Alpha. One other high school, St. Thomas More Collegiate – an independent school – is also listed.
As for elementary schools, listed with exposures are Armstrong, Cameron, Cascade Heights, Lakeview, Maywood, Montecito, Morley, Parkcrest, Stride Avenue, Taylor Park, Windsor and Twelfth Avenue.
Burnaby continues to see a drop in new COVID-19 infections, but some of the city’s neighbourhoods are still being called high-transmission areas.
According to the latest Geographic Distribution of COVID-19 by Local Health Area of Case Residence data, Burnaby recorded 247 cases between March 2 and 8 – a drop from the 309 new infections from April 25 to May 1. From April 18 to 24, the city hit 397 cases.
The data is released by the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC).
Burnaby has now seen more than 200 cases for 12 straight weeks and saw a record number of new infections of 475 from April 4-10.
Some areas of South Burnaby are considered high-transmission areas based on the concentration of cases, according to Fraser Health and a new map from the BCCDC.
The map shows a positivity rate of 10 to 20% from May 4-10 in South Burnaby – mostly southeastern Burnaby.
In all of the school instances, Fraser Health's school-exposure section explains the following:
If a student or teacher receives a confirmed positive COVID-19 test result, public health follows a rigorous protocol:
- Contact tracing is initiated to determine how the individual was infected and who they were in close contact with.
- Health officials identify and notify close contacts who may be at an increased risk, and advise them to self-isolate and monitor for symptoms for 14 days.
- Only public health officials can determine who is a close contact. Learning groups, friends or other connections may not be determined to be a close contact.
- Public health staff works closely with the school and school district throughout the case and contact management process to maintain close communication with the school community.
As of this publication, Fraser Health has a total of 77,923 recorded cases, with 4,391 currently active.
- With files from Jess Fedigan
