Students and staff at three additional schools on Vancouver Island are being warned about possible exposure to the novel coronavirus.
In the past 24 hours, Island Health has added Edward Milne Community School, Fairview Elementary School and Glanford Middle School to its COVID-19 exposure list.
Edward Milne Community School — located on Sooke Road in Sooke — experienced an exposure on April 7.
Fairview Elementary School — located on Howard Avenue in Nanaimo — experienced an exposure on April 9.
Glanford Middle School — located on Glanford Avenue in Saanich — experienced an exposure on April 7.
A total of 18 schools are currently on Island Health’s exposure list, with two schools — Cedar Hill Middle School and Dunsmuir Middle School — reporting clusters.
Island Health defines an exposure as a single person with a lab-confirmed COVID-19 infection who attended school during their infectious period.
A cluster is defined by Island Health as two or more confirmed cases within a 14-day period, with evidence of transmission occurring within the school.
The health authority has warned students, parents and staff to expect rising school exposures in the coming weeks due to a surge in COVID-19 cases over spring break.
However, as the number of COVID-19 exposures continues to climb at schools across Vancouver Island, more and more parents are taking matters into their own hands by pulling their children out of school.
Fairview Community School is the latest #Nanaimo school to have a #COVID19BC exposure https://t.co/vZ4Xcnyycp
— Kendall Hanson (@Kendall_Hanson) April 11, 2021