Three more New Westminster schools have seen COVID-19 exposures – including two that just saw exposures a handful of days ago.
Qayqayt Elementary School saw a COVID-19 exposure May 10 and 11, according to the Fraser Health school exposures website. Lord Kelvin Elementary School also reported an exposure May 10, on the heels of an earlier exposure reported May 4 and 5. New Westminster Secondary School saw another exposure May 12, also on the heels of an exposure the previous week (May 4, 5, 6 and 7).
An "exposure" means that someone who has since tested positive for COVID-19 (staff or student) was in the school during their potentially infectious period.
The new exposures mean five schools in the city (along with Lord Tweedsmuir Elementary and Glenbrook Middle) have reported COVID-19 exposures in May.
The cases come on the heels of recently released data showing that 33 students in New Westminster had COVID-19 in the nine-week period between Jan. 1 and March 7, with three "clusters" occurring in New West schools in that same time period. (A cluster refers to a case in which at least one in-school transmission occurred within a 14-day period.)
You can find more about that data in an in-depth look published by the Record last week.
The lone school in School District 40 with no COVID-19 exposures to date remains Connaught Heights Elementary.
Here's how school exposures have looked in New Westminster so far this calendar year:
EXPOSURE DATES AT NEW WESTMINSTER SCHOOLS IN 2021
Glenbrook Middle School: Jan. 4; Feb. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 22; April 6, 7, 8, 23; May 3, 4
Queensborough Middle School: Jan. 11; Feb. 23, 24, 25, 26; April 19, 20
Herbert Spencer Elementary: Jan. 25; April 13, 14
Fraser River Middle: Jan. 27, 28, 29; March 2, 3, 4, 5
New Westminster Secondary: Jan. 28; Feb. 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 17, 18, 19, 23; March 8, 9, 11, 12, 29, 30, 31; April 1, 6, 9, 16; May 4, 5, 6, 7, 12
Richard McBride Elementary: Feb. 10, 11, 12, 22, 23; March 1; April 6, 7, 8, 15, 16, 29, 30
Qayqayt Elementary: Feb. 22, 23; March 8, 9; April 14, 15, 16; May 10, 11
F.W. Howay Elementary: Feb. 17, 18
Lord Kelvin Elementary: March 3, 4; April 16, 19, 20, 21; May 4, 5, 10
Queen Elizabeth Elementary: March 8, 9
Lord Tweedsmuir Elementary: April 20, 22; May 3, 5, 6
Hume Park Home Learners Program: Jan. 5
POWER Alternate Secondary: April 12
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