West Vancouver private school takes early spring break over coronavirus concerns

A West Vancouver private school is closing for spring break nearly a week early, due to concerns about the novel coronavirus.

In a letter to parents, head of school Lisa Evans said that a close contact of “one of our Collingwood families — not a student, family member or staff member — has tested positive for COVID-19.”

The school said that while Vancouver Coastal Health advised that there was low risk, administrators decided to close early as a precaution.

The school’s two campus are now being deep-cleaned with bleach.

“Maintaining a sense of calm and vigilance for our students, staff and the larger community is important, and the safety of everyone remains our greatest priority,” says the letter.

“We have no reason to believe that the family connected to this case has been infected but we wanted to act quickly to safeguard our community.”

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The letter says the closure applies to the school along with all sporting events, special events and clubs for the remainder of the week.

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It says the school administration is still making a decision about school trips that are scheduled in the coming weeks.

Classes are scheduled to resume at the school on March 30.

The move comes after two Surrey public schools notified parents and conducted extra cleaning after someone who was present on the grounds tested positive for the disease.

Provincial health officials said in both cases the person was asymptomatic at the time, and that the risk to the public was low.

Health officials are reminding parents to keep students who are showing symptoms of any kind of illness home from school.