The Thames Valley District School Board confirmed on Friday that someone at Sir Arthur Currie Public School in London has tested positive for COVID-19.
“If you have not been contacted by the MLHU, your child is not considered to be at risk,” said Thames Valley education director Mark Fisher.
“Only students and staff who are at risk will be contacted by MLHU and will be asked to remain in self-isolation for a period of 14 days.”
The board said the school will remain open, and school buses will operate.
The Middlesex London Health Unit (MLHU) said investigators have determined that the case was at the school during the time they were infectious.
“There have been several reports of COVID-19 positive cases linked to schools this week and as we continue our investigations and identify close contacts, we expect more cases will emerge in the coming days,” says Dr. Chris Mackie, Medical Officer of Health with the Middlesex-London Health Unit.
“These cases underscore the importance of following the public health guidelines that we have been recommending for months. Wear a mask, keep your physical distance, wash your hands and please, stay home when you develop symptoms that are consistent with COVID-19.”
Due to privacy considerations, the MLHU said it will not be disclosing publicly any further details about the case, or the number of close contacts at the school.
This is the second case involving someone in the TVDSB this week. The other case, reported on Thursday, involved a student at Saunders Secondary School (SSS).
On Thursday, the MLHU said investigators have determined that the student at SSS attended class while infectious and said they are working to identify the student’s close contacts.
The MLHU is also reporting that two people at École élémentaire La Pommeraie, a French-language elementary school in southwest London, have tested positive for the coronavirus.
The health unit has since confirmed that both cases at the French-langue school, one on Thursday and the other Monday, involved staff members. The MLHU has confirmed that at least one of the staff members was at school while symptomatic.
The case at Sir Arthur Currie is the seventh school-involved case to be reported in the immediate London area since the start of September, and the fifth to be reported within London itself.
Other cases include a student at Mitchell Hepburn Public School in St. Thomas on Sept. 29, while a separate probable case was reported at St. Thomas Community Christian School, a private school in that city, on Sept. 25.
It was not clear whether the private school case involved a student or staff member. An SWPH spokesperson said this week that the case had since been deemed resolved and that students had returned to school.
The first case, at H.B. Beal Secondary School, has since been resolved.