Parents and guardians of Wapanohk Community School in Thompson received a letter Jan. 16 advising them that a person with a confirmed cases of COVID-19 had been in the school Jan. 7 and on the morning of Jan. 8 when they may have been infectious.
The letter said that close contacts of the person have been contacted and advised to self-monitor for symptoms and that the overall risk of exposure was considered low based on the public health investigation.
The notification came a day after the school posted a letter on its Facebook page advising that the school would be moving to remote learning for all students beginning Jan. 18 and ending Jan. 29.
“To date, there have been no confirmed cases of transmission in the school but there has been an increase in the number of cases in the community,” said the letter. “We hope that this time together will allow families to take the necessary safeguards to protect themselves from COVID-19. We want to keep our students and community safe."
Grade 7 and 8 students at the school had been learning remotely already since school restarted after the Christmas break on Jan. 4. Kindergarten to Grade 6 students will now be learning remotely as well, with the exception of those whose parents are essential workers.
Wapahnohk is not the only school in the north extending remote learning or providing students an option to learn remotely beyond the initial two weeks that were mandated for all Grade 7 to 12 students in Manitoba.
West Lynn Heights School in Lynn Lake sent out a letter Jan. 10 advising that due to the high number of COVID-19 cases in Lynn Lake (127 active cases as of Jan. 17) it was moving to remote learning for all students from kindergarten to Grade 12 until Jan. 22, with regular classes scheduled to resume Jan. 25.
“The decision to move West Lynn Heights to the Critical (Red) level is not a reflection of school-based virus transmission,” the letter said. “Our school continues to be a safe place to learn.”
Gillam School resumed in-class learning for Grade 7 to 12 students Jan. 18 and continued it for those up to Grade 6, but students in both groups have the opportunity to request that they learn remotely for the two weeks up until Jan. 29. There were nine active cases of COVID-19 in the Gillam/Fox Lake health district as of Jan. 17.
Overall there have been 11 notifications about possible public exposures to COVID-19 at School District of Mystery Lake schools, including three each at Westwood School and R.D. Parker Collegiate, two at Wapanohk, and one each at Burntwood, Deerwood and École Riverside.
People with COVID-19 may be infectious for two days before they begin showing symptoms.
People identified as close contact of anyone with COVID-19 will be contacted and provided instructions by public health staff and testing may be recommended in some cases.
Contact tracing divides people into three categories: close contacts, medium-risk contact and low-risk contacts. The first group includes anyone who spent 15 minutes or more within six feet of a person who has tested positive for the virus. Medium-risk contacts are those who were not that close to or were in the company of an infected person for a shorter period of time.
Close contacts are expected to self-isolate themselves and get tested if they develop COVID-19 symptoms. Medium-risk contacts are asked to self-monitor themselves, including taking their temperature twice a day, for two weeks.
Anyone who develops fever or chills, a cough, a sore throat or hoarse voice, shortness of breath, loss of taste or smell, or vomiting or diarrhea for more than 24 hours is instructed to isolate from others and seek COVID-19 testing within 24 hours after symptoms appear. The same advice applies to anyone who gets two or more of the following symptoms: runny nose, muscle aches, fatigue, pink eye, a headache, a skin rash of unknown cause or a loss of appetite.
People with these symptoms who do not get tested must self-isolate for 10 days following the start of symptoms. Isolation can be discontinued after 10 days if the person has been symptom-free for 24 hours.
