Three schools in the Fraser Health region have been told to close over concerns of COVID-19 transmission.
Fraser Health said it’s advised Cambridge Elementary School in Surrey to close for two weeks after seven positive cases were identified.
This is the first school outbreak declared in the Lower Mainland and the second in the province.
Surrey Schools supt. Jordan Tinney posted a note to Twitter advising parents of the closure.
He said Cambridge Elementary will remain closed until Nov. 30, and said health officials believe that time period will help to break the chains of transmission at the school.
“A school outbreak is defined as a significant number of cases likely to have occurred onsite that extend beyond a classroom or administrative area such as a cohort, and exceptional measures are needed to control transmission,” reads a letter to parents posted to Tinney’s Twitter profile.
Meanwhile, Jarvis Elementary School in Delta and Al-Hidayah School in New Westminster have both advised Fraser Health that they will also shut for two weeks after challenges in staffing levels brought on by COVID-19 clusters there.
There have been six positive cases identified at Jarvis and eight at Al-Hidayah School.
Fraser Health said it has a “rigorous” contact tracing protocol for a situation where a student or teacher tests positive.