THUNDER BAY – Two cases of COVID-19 have been discovered at St. Margaret School.
However, the Thunder Bay District Health Unit says it’s not considered an outbreak and there is no evidence the virus has spread within the school setting.
At this time, the school will remain open.
Those identified as close contacts of the two positive cases are isolating at home and will not return to school until they are advised it’s safe by the Thunder Bay District Health Unit.
The Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board, in a release issued on Saturday, said they received the first report of a positive test within the St. Margaret School community on Friday. A second positive was discovered on Saturday, the same day the health unit announced seven new cases in the district.
According to the board, upon learning of the first positive case, the TBDHU initiated an investigation to assess potential exposures in the school and associated settings, including on school buses and in the after-school program.
The work was expanded on Saturday after learning of the second case.
The health unit continues to work closely with the board to identify close contacts of each of the positive cases, with public health nurses following up with everyone indentified as falling into the close contact category.
The health unit says the virus was acquired outside of the school setting, but as a precaution, they will monitor and assess for any evidence of spread and take any necessary measure should it be detected as the situation unfolds.
The health unit will complete a site visit to help determine other potential exposures and review the measure put in place at the Clayte Street school.
Anyone identified as a close contact will be contacted directly by a public health nurse and won’t be permitted to return to school until they’ve been medically cleared. Anyone not contacted is not considered high risk and testing isn’t necessary unless advised by public health or through daily screening protocols.
