KENORA – A COVID-19 outbreak has been declared at the St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Kenora after two people associated with the school tested positive for the virus.
The outbreak is confined to the school’s Grade 8 cohort, the Kenora Catholic District School Board said in a statement Saturday.
The situation was declared an outbreak by the Northwestern Health Unit, the board said, and met the Ontario ministry of education’s outbreak definition: involving two or more lab-confirmed cases in students or staff within a 14-day period, where at least one case could have reasonably been acquired at school.
Students not identified as a close contact of the existing cases by public health authorities can continue to attend the school.
All close contacts will be called and given instructions by public health officials, the board stated.
St. Thomas Aquinas High School had seen previous positive cases in early October and on Nov. 22.
There were 20 active cases of COVID-19 in the Kenora region as of Friday, according to the Northwestern Health Unit. The agency announced one new case of COVID-19 in the region on Saturday.
