Island Health posted notifications about the exposures on its website Saturday. The latest additions to the list are Colquitz Middle School and Frank Hobbs Elementary School in Saanich and Drinkwater Elementary School in Duncan. The exposure at Colquitz happened on Tuesday, April 6, while the exposure at Frank Hobbs happened on Wednesday, April 7. Drinkwater s exposures happened on April 6, 7 and 8, according to the health authority. Island health says that in a school setting, an exposure is defined as the presence of lab-confirmed COVID-19 case(s) in the school during the period of communicability. There are currently 15 schools listed on the health authority s website that have seen cases of COVID-19 in the last 14 days.
Forty-two new cases are variants of concern, for a total of 158 cases. The majority 137 cases are the strain first identified in the United Kingdom, while 21 are the variant first found in South Africa. There have been eight new deaths linked to COVID-19, for a total of 1,363 fatalities connected to the virus in B.C. The province reported new outbreaks at four health-care facilities, including Glacier View Lodge, a long-term care home in Courtenay. Island Health said one staff person has tested positive for COVID-19 and is isolating, and no residents are experiencing symptoms. COVID-19 tests will be performed on staff and residents who had contact with the affected staff member.
VICTORIA Island Health has notified the families of students at three more Vancouver Island schools that COVID-19 exposures recently took place. The exposures were at schools in Courtenay, Comox and Duncan last week. According to Island Health, exposures were reported at Courtenay Elementary School on Feb. 22, 23 and 24. Meanwhile, an exposure was listed at Highland Secondary School on Feb. 22 and 24. On Saturday, parents with children at at Drinkwater Elementary School in Duncan were informed that a COVID-19 exposure took place on Feb. 25. In all three cases, only a single person has tested positive for the virus at their respective school, according to Island Health.
B.C. reported 1,428 new COVID-19 cases over the weekend — including 88 in Island Health — for a total of 80,672 cases in the province since the pandemic began. There are 4,464 people with active . . .