Winston Knoll Collegiate in Regina cancelled all afternoon classes on Friday after a staff member at the high school tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
Regina Public Schools (RPS) says they were notified of the confirmed COVID-19 case from the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) at around 11 a.m.
The person who tested positive for the virus was last at school on Tuesday, Oct. 6, says RPS.
The school division decided to cancel classes on Friday as a safety precaution.
“In our process in trying to determine who will be close contacts of the case, and having to follow different cleaning protocols, we decided we would close the school today,” deputy director of Regina Public School Darren Boldt said.
“Obviously we have a long weekend to continue to do that work. We’ll be making a decision Monday, by the end of the day, to decide if school will resume or not on Tuesday.”
Parents and families will be contacted with further information by the end of the day on Monday, Oct. 12.
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Earlier this week, Marion McVeety School in Regina was closed for two weeks after a staff member tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
Boldt says the case at Winston Knoll Collegiate is significantly different, as the staff member at Marion McVeety had multiple contacts with students.
How long Winston Knoll Collegiate will remain closed depends on how many close contacts the staff member had, Boldt said.
“We can’t know that until we get information from the Saskatchewan Health Authority about confirmed close contacts and how those confirmed close contacts would be to the rest of the student body,” Boldt said.
“We have individually contacted the class that was affected. And they will be in contact with SHA if they are determined a close contact of the staff member.”
Anyone with symptoms of COVID-19 is asked to contact 811 to arrange for testing.
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