BALMERTOWN, Ont. – Staff and students at a Red Lake-area public school are being warned of possible exposure after a COVID-19 case impacting the school was confirmed.
The Keewatin Patricia District School Board provided few details about the case in an advisory posted to its website Friday afternoon, saying only that it impacted the Golden Learning Centre public school in Balmertown, located about 200 kilometres northwest of Dryden.
The board’s website states that such advisories are posted “if there is a confirmed case of COVID-19 that involves a student or a staff member in a school setting.”
Anyone affected will be contacted by the Northwestern Health Unit, the board advised.
“The positive case is being followed up with by Northwestern Health Unit and all contacts of the case are being called and given instructions by public health,” the advisory stated. “Due to our COVID-19 prevention strategies in place, those staff and students not contacted by public health are deemed to be at no additional risk and can continue to attend school as usual.”
The board cited privacy issues in explaining why more information was not released to the public.
“For reasons of privacy, we will minimize sharing personal information about any case and encourage others to avoid identifying individuals,” it stated.
The Northwestern Health Unit confirmed a new positive case in the Dryden-Red Lake area on Friday.
The Golden Learning Centre, located within that area, serves the communities of Cochenour, McKenzie Island, and the northern side of the Chukuni River subdivision, as well as Balmertown itself.
