Two Richmond schools issued alerts of COVID-19 exposures to parents on Monday, Feb. 15.
Parents of Whiteside elementary and Steveston-London secondary received a letter and an email regarding the exposures at their respective schools.
Those at Whiteside elementary received a letter from Vancouver Coastal Health that exposures at the school occurred on Feb. 10 and 11.
The health agency reassured parents that “current COVID safety plans in (the) schools, when followed correctly, are very effective in preventing transmission” in the same letter.
“New illness related to this school exposure may occur up to 14 days from the last date of exposure,” read the letter.
“We therefore recommend self-monitoring for signs of illness until Feb. 25.”
The letter added that anyone identified as a close contact will be notified directly by the public health.
Meanwhile, an email sent by Steveston-London stated that VCH is “working closely with the school to determine if there have been any potential further exposures.”
It added that it is not “necessary to stay home and isolate” and self-isolation is only required if families “receive specific direction from Vancouver Coastal Health.”
Exposure dates were not mentioned in Steveston-London’s email.
According to the BC School COVID Tracker database, an online group that tracks coronavirus cases in B.C. schools, there have been more than 3,000 exposure incidents at 937 Kindergarten to Grade 12 schools with 566 of those having multiple exposures to this day.
Earlier today, the Richmond News also reported of an exposure alert at Hugh McRoberts secondary.
An email, dated Monday, Feb. 15 – posted on the Facebook page BC School COVID Tracker – was sent by Hugh McRoberts secondary.
It stated that the school had “just been notified that there may have been an exposure to the COVID-19 virus in our school community.”
Then email added that VCH had already contacted people deemed to have been in close contact and advised them to self-isolate.
Parents were told there was no evidence that suggested staff or the wider school community was at risk at this time.
