By Michael Reeve / Q-101 Merritt

COVID-19

Three positive COVID-19 cases at Merritt Secondary School

Jan 18, 2021 | 1:57 PM

MERRITT, B.C. — There have been three confirmed cases of COVID-19 at Merritt Secondary School (MSS).

SD58 Nicola-Similkameen Superintendent Steve McNiven joined Q101 News Monday Morning to provide clarity into the situation at MSS and state that three positive cases have been confirmed by the Interior Health Authority.

“Since winter break, Interior Health has confirmed three positive cases amongst members of Merritt Secondary School,” said McNiven. “Our first letter went out January 6, the most recent date on those community letters is January 12. So, sometime between those dates, we’ve had three of those positive cases confirmed by Interior Health.”

Confusion over the total of cases was spurred by additional letters being sent to parents by Interior Health (IH).

While some students have been forced to self-isolate by order of IH, many others have been absent by choice.

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“We went into the end of last week with low attendance and hoping to rebuild that this week by having students return to us in greater numbers. We’re really going to support that process,” said McNiven. “I’d ask parents to call the school. I think there is misinformation out there and we want parents to be given the accurate information so they can make a decision for themselves and their students.”

McNiven also outlined the current procedures in place at schools in the district to help prevent the future spread of COVID-19.

“With these exposures certainly comes some extra cleaning on our part. Really want parents to know that deep cleaning is taking place on a regular basis. We have our fog-sprayers in the school on a daily basis at MSS. The same twice a day cleaning across our district,” said McNiven.

“Many of the protocols that we’re reinforcing are really the most basic ones, that includes hand washing, mask-wearing where appropriate, daily health checks, distancing. We also have some structures in place to help with our transitions, so we have multiple lunch breaks for example at Merritt Secondary,” added McNiven.

The three cases at MSS are the only confirmed cases with a school community in Merritt throughout the pandemic.

“We also want to support the health and safety of all our community members. So making sure we’re all doing our best out there to keep ourselves safe by following protocols outside the school and in the community,” said McNiven.

“We want to wish the best, we know through Interior Health three of our members are going through a positive situation and we want them to be as healthy as possible and our minds and thoughts go towards them and their families,” concluded McNiven.