Four Kingston Area Schools See Positive COVID-19 Cases, All Remain Open – Kingston | The Canadian News

Four Kingston area schools are reporting COVID-19 cases among their school populations.

According to the Limestone District School Board, two JR Henderson Public School students and one Kingston High School student tested positive for COVID-19.

The health unit has reportedly determined that these cases pose no risk to the school population as a whole, so the cohorts will not be required to isolate themselves and the schools will remain open.

The Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board says St. Marguerite Bourgeoys has recorded two cases and St. Thomas More Catholic School has one case. Both schools remain open.

The health unit reported 10 new cases on Wednesday, six of which were children under 10 years of age.

At a news conference Wednesday, Dr. Hugh Guan, the region’s health associate physician, says he is not concerned about the recent surge in cases in schools.

“We have shown how people are transmitting the virus, so I would be increasingly concerned if we start to see random cases showing up all the time,” he said.

He said that most of the children who tested positive were close contacts of previously existing cases and therefore contracted the disease at home or close relatives rather than at schools.

Currently, there are no outbreaks in any Kingston area school and there has been no transmission within any school setting.

Guan also said he is confident in the local school system’s ability to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

“We have never seen widespread transmission in our schools compared to the cases you may have heard of in other jurisdictions,” he said.

Finally, Guan said that with experience in managing COVID-19 in schools, current vaccination rates (almost 80 percent of the local population is fully vaccinated), schools are better prepared to deal with the virus this way. time.

“I very much hope that schools do not close this year because, again, we know that being in schools is very beneficial for the mental, physical and social well-being of children. We want children to go to school as long as possible, ”Guan said.

There are currently 46 active cases of the virus in the region.

See link »