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Positive coronavirus case at Holy Cross High School in Saskatoon

Click to play video: 'Saskatchewan provides guidelines to deal with positive coronavirus tests at schools'
Saskatchewan provides guidelines to deal with positive coronavirus tests at schools
WATCH: Provincial officials release new details about how staff and parents will learn about cases of COVID-19 in Saskatchewan schools. – Aug 27, 2020

Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools (GSCS) says there has been a positive coronavirus test at one of its high schools.

The case was reported at Holy Cross High School, but GSCS officials did not say if it was a student or staff member.

A letter was sent to parents on the weekend, said Derrick Kunz, a communications consultant with the school board.

Kunz said they are taking direction from public health as the agency works through their process and contact tracing.

“There are different layers of communication: contact tracing, notification of the cohort, and we have sent a general notification to all parents as recommended by public health,” Kunz said in an email to Global News.

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“We’ll continue to work closely with Public Health and take their direction if additional/enhanced measures are necessary.”

Under the province’s back-to-school plan, an outbreak is only declared when two or more people at a school test positive for the novel coronavirus.

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In the event one person tests positive, all teachers, staff, parents and caregivers of students in the same classroom (cohort) will be contacted directly by public health and by their school via email.

Teachers, staff, parents and caregivers of students who are considered to be close contacts of a person with COVID-19 will be contacted directly by public health via the contact tracing process.

Kunz said one important measure everyone can take is daily health screening.

According to the school board’s return-to-school plan, all students and staff are expected to complete a daily screening questionnaire prior to entering school.

Anyone answering yes to any one of the 16 questions are being told not to enter the school and to contact HealthLine 811 for further direction.

Holy Cross will be the second school in the province to offer voluntary in-school testing for the coronavirus. Testing will start on Sept. 17.

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Questions about COVID-19? Here are some things you need to know:

Symptoms can include fever, cough and difficulty breathing — very similar to a cold or flu. Some people can develop a more severe illness. People most at risk of this include older adults and people with severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung or kidney disease. If you develop symptoms, contact public health authorities.

To prevent the virus from spreading, experts recommend frequent handwashing and coughing into your sleeve. They also recommend minimizing contact with others, staying home as much as possible and maintaining a distance of two metres from other people if you go out. In situations where you can’t keep a safe distance from others, public health officials recommend the use of a non-medical face mask or covering to prevent spreading the respiratory droplets that can carry the virus. In some provinces and municipalities across the country, masks or face coverings are now mandatory in indoor public spaces.

For full COVID-19 coverage from Global News, click here.

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