School District No. 53 reported two positive COVID-19 cases at Osoyoos Elementary School.
According to Superintendent of Schools Beverly Young, the affected individual and their families are self-isolating at home. In order to protect the privacy of the community members, the school district has not provided additional details.
The exposure dates are stated to be May 13, 14, 17, and 18 on a letter sent out of families on Friday afternoon. These dates reflect when a positive case was present within the school.
Interior Health Authority sent out a letter Friday evening to grade 7 families in Osoyoos Elementary School, asking for all grade 7 students to self-isolate until the end of day on June 1, 2021.
IH is currently working on contact tracing to determine if any other members of the school community were in contact with the person who tested positive for COVID-19 while they were potentially infectious.
The health authority will determine if anyone in the school community is a close contact that is required to self-isolate.
IH will contact families directly if any safety measures need to be taken. Those who are not contacted by IH have been determined to not be at risk of developing COVID-19.
“The safety and well-being of our students, families and staff remains our highest priority,” wrote Young in a letter to families on Friday afternoon. “Please be reassured that our school will continue to implement the strict protocols and procedures we have in place so that children can continue to attend school as safely as possible.”
The letter also states that students should continue to come to school while contact tracing is underway. At the same time, families should continue daily health checks to monitor their child for any symptoms.
A parent in the school community contacted the Times-Chronicle concerned that there may be of more potential exposures.
The Times-Chronicle, however, could not confirm any more than two positive cases during the school exposure, as of Friday, May 21.
Young also stated that if a student tested positive but wasn’t present at school during the exposure period, the school district will not send out another letter because it is not considered a school exposure case.
We do ask people to monitor their symptoms and encourage them to get tested if they find symptoms, said Young.
