The number of COVID-19 cases in schools is “pretty much a clear reflection” of what’s happening in the larger community, says the interim superintendent of the Greater Victoria School District.
After the number of cases dropped at the end of the 2020-21 school year, much of the Island has seen an increase during the first part of the 2021-22 year, Deb Whitten said.
“We have had some exposures and some clusters, and we worked through them, thankfully, very closely with Island Health,” Whitten said. “We know the fourth wave [of COVID-19] is contagious, but we also know that schools are the safe place to be for students.”
Schools have “multiple layers of preventive measures” to deal with COVID-19, Whitten said. “When we do have a cluster, we increase cleaning and ensure that those that need to isolate.”
The most recent potential local COVID-19 school exposures — defined as the presence of a lab-confirmed case or cases during the communicable period — have been at South Park Elementary (Oct. 4) and Pacific Christian School (Oct.4).
George Jay Elementary and Cloverdale Traditional had clusters dating through Oct. 1.
A cluster in a school refers to two or more confirmed cases within a 14-day period, along with evidence of transmission in the school.
The number of cases at individual schools is not released.
Many of the incidents of COVID-19 are in elementary schools, since children under 12 are not yet eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations.
