Nearly 80 schools have COVID-19 exposures as of Monday: Interior Health

Despite growing exposures, School District 73 says it has already received calls from parents not wanting to put a mask on their young children.

“So far, we’ve been able to have the conversation reasonably. It hasn’t been something that’s been highly enflamed or aggressive or even assertive,” explained SD73 Superintendent Rhonda Nixon.

“So, if we have that situation, we would lean into Interior Health and say, you know, what guidance could you provide in this exact circumstance?” she added.

On its school COVID-19 exposure website, IH says 79 schools have had exposures within the past 14 days.

That includes 11 within the Kamloops-Thompson School District (SD73). The latest to report are Westmount Elementary (Sept. 23 and 24), A.E. Perry Elementary (Sept. 21) and Kamloops School of the Arts (Sept. 28).

Nixon says parents have been calling in with worry. She says although 11 SD73 schools are listed on the IH website, it doesn’t mean that those schools had whole classes exposed. Only those closest to the person who tested positive were exposed.

“It means now, that they had some exposures that they deemed to be necessary for the people to self-monitor or self isolate or no further action,” said Nixon.

She adds that less than half of the schools have had to isolate a whole classroom.

There are nine exposures within the Cariboo-Chilcotin School District (SD27), including in schools in Williams Lake, 150 Mile House, 108 Mile Ranch and 100 Mile House.

There are two relevant exposures in Merritt and seven in the North Okanagan-Shuswap (SD83).

Private Christian schools in Kamloops, Salmon Arm and Williams Lake have also reported exposures.

To see all 79 schools on the list, visit this link.

by James Peters / Amandalina Letterio

Nearly 80 schools have COVID-19 exposures as of Monday: Interior Health

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