Following the news of multiple schools dealing with COVID-19 in Kelowna, School District 23 has clarified how it handles a positive test in a school community.
According to the flow chart provided, once Interior Health confirms a positive case in a member of the school the district and school administrators are notified.
Health officials are then provided with records and info to support contact tracing and if it’s determined that the person was not infectious while at the school no further action is taken.
That means no “exposure event” is recorded and no letter is sent out to the community.
However, if the person was infectious while at the school, health officials work to determine high versus low-risk contacts and notifies school families.
Those considered to be high-risk contacts are directly contacted by Interior Health and officials then decide whether to direct the person, learning group or entire school to self-isolate.
Meanwhile, the entire school is monitored for linked cases and further infection for the next 14 days, if no further cases are confirmed the school is removed from the watch list.
On Monday, Interior Health confirmed that at least one person has tested positive for COVID-19 at Kelowna Secondary School.
That person is now self-isolating at home while health officials conduct contract tracing throughout the school.
There are now 11 confirmed cases connected to The École de L’Anse-au-sable community located in Kelowna.
Roughly 160 people are self-isolating for 14 days due to their connection to the school community and the outbreak.
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