A number of students at a Havelock public school have been asked to quarantine after two new cases of COVID-19 have been reported.
On Saturday Peterborough Public Health issued a letter to families of students attending Havelock Belmont Public School to advise them of two new cases of COVID-19 at the junior kindergarten to Grade 6 school about 40 km east of Peterborough.
The individuals, who were not identified as students or staff, will remain at home until they are cleared to return to school by the health unit. As of Friday, the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board was reporting just one case at the school.
“A positive case does not necessarily mean that the individuals were exposed to COVID-19 at the school,” the health unit states. “They may have been exposed somewhere else in the community.”
As a result, students in five classes have been asked to stay home and self-isolate. They include two junior/senior kindergarten classes, an SK/Grade 1 glass, a Grade 1/2 class and a Grade 2 class.
Students must self-isolate in accordance with the health unit’s Section 22 class order made under the Health, Protection and Promotion Act.
The health unit is advising households to designate one person as a caregiver for the impacted child and advise the designated individual to also remain in self-isolation.
On Sunday evening, the health unit reported six new cases of COVID-19 in its jurisdiction of Peterborough, Peterborough County, Hiawatha First Nation and Curve Lake First Nation. There were 23 active cases as of the update on the health unit’s COVID-19 tracker.
However, the number of close contacts nearly tripled, jumping from 60 on Saturday to 182 on Sunday.
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