File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By James Peters

COVID-19

IH says no definitive proof of COVID-19 spread at Sa-Hali Secondary

Feb 4, 2021 | 3:38 PM

KAMLOOPS — Sa-Hali Secondary School says 16 COVID-19 cases have now been associated with various exposures at the school.

In an email to parents, Principal Rachael Sdoutz says there are three staff and 13 students who have tested positive. Another 248 students and 13 staff are self-isolating due to direct exposure.

Sdoutz thanks parents for their support, encouragement and patience.

Sa-Hali Secondary has had five separate exposures to the virus since January 18. In the latest exposure, five COVID-19-positive individuals were at the school for an entire week.

Meantime, Interior Health (IH) officials say they cannot be certain whether COVID-19 spread has taken place at Sa-Hali Secondary.

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In a media briefing Thursday (Feb. 4), IH Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Albert de Villiers said the large numbers do not necessarily mean transmission has occurred in the school itself.

“It looks like most of the cases are coming from the community,” said de Villiers. “There might be very limited spread within the student population within the school but the schools do have really good COVID plans in place. Usually, when we see a little bit of an increase like this, we send a health inspector as well. One of our public health inspectors will go into the school — or at least they’ll have a discussion with the school… to see what the plan is like. If the plan meets their criteria, we will not ask them to close down. We will just ask them to keep on doing the plan.”

In her email, Sdoutz told parents she discussed Sa-Hali’s COVID-19 protocols with a health inspector in a phonecall Wednesday. She said the health inspector approved of the school’s plan and did not offer suggestions for improvement.

Sdoutz added the health inspector told her the B.C. Centre for Disease Control indicated the spread was happening in the community and not in the school.

But De Villiers says contact tracers have interviewed those who have tested positive but have not definitively been able to say that transmission has not taken place in the school.

“Some things are a little bit grey; it’s not always that black-and-white. For instance, in physical education classes, as you can imagine, 12 girls are running around without masks — they’re not necessarily always going to keep their distance. That’s why, for instance, in some of the schools lately we have excluded the whole physical education class.”