The Superintendent of the Kamloops-Thompson School District says he’s pleased there wasn’t a spike in COVID-19 school exposures after spring break.
However, Terry Sullivan says he is still asking people to be vigilant for the rest of the school year to avoid things getting out of control.
“We’ve been very fortunate with respect to that but we are continuing to be vigilant,” he told NL News.
“We are continuing to have schools as controlled environments, we’re continuing to keep them secure, we’re continuing to do contact cleaning, and following all of the guidelines that health have laid down and we’re going to continue to do that until we get to the end of the school year.”
Kamloops-area kids got back to class after spring break on March 22, with nine schools reporting COVID exposures since then, though not all at once.
Those include Arthur Stevenson, and Westmount elementary schools, Brock Middle School, Westsyde, NorKam, Chase, and Valleyview secondary schools, as well as Bert Edwards Science and Technology School, and the Kamloops School of the Arts.
In the Kelowna area meanwhile, there were over 20 active COVID-19 school exposures reported around the end of April. As of yesterday, there were 10 active school exposures in the Central Okanagan – six in Kelowna, two in Summerland, and two in West Kelowna.
In the Kamloops-area meanwhile, there are just the two active exposures – at Chase Secondary and at Valleyview Secondary.
“I think we’re doing well as far as the community is concerned. As I’ve said all along, what we see in schools in proportional to what we’re seeing in the community. As to why, I don’t know,” Sullivan added. “That’s a question I guess our healthcare professionals will have to respond to but we certainly haven’t seen it, and that’s a good thing.”
Sullivan adds SD73 was bracing for the worst, as cases rose sharply when kids returned to class after the winter break.
“Yeah, we were ready and we were ready to respond. I wanted to make parents aware and I’m still sending letters out to parents and staff and informing them of the cases that we’ve seen,” he added.
“Its just fairly minimal right now.”
He tells NL News some teachers in the Kamloops-area have been contacted and told to come get a COVID-19 vaccine either at a pharmacy or at an age-based clinic. Sullivan also says he’s pleased to hear that kids 12 and up in B.C. are now eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine.