School divisions in Lethbridge are busy dealing with a constantly changing environment for staff, students and teachers as more and more schools see positive COVID-19 cases.
“I know Dr. (Deena) Hinshaw has said it’s the family and social gathers and so, (it would be) sort of encouraging if we could just get things tamed down in Lethbridge, that would be really helpful,” said Dr. Cheryl Gilmore, superintendent of schools with the Lethbridge School Division.
The Lethbridge School Division had 47 total cases as of Monday afternoon, involving 14 different schools. There is roughly 1,000 students and 80 staff in isolation relating to those cases.
- Wilson Middle School – 11
- Galbraith Elementary – 9
- Winston Churchill High School – 7
- Mike Mountain Horse – 4
- Lethbridge collegiate Institute – 3
- Ecole Agnes Davidson – 3
- Ecole Nicholas Sheran – 2
- Senator Joyce Fairbairn – 2
There are six other schools in the division with one case each.
Holy Spirit Catholic School Division has 12 active cases as of March 14 impacting four schools with 420 staff and students in isolation, including:
- Our Lady of the Assumption School — 1
- Catholic Central High School–2
- St. Francis Junior High School — 5
- St. Teresa of Calcutta — 4
Students at St. Francis Junior High School have transitioned to temporary at-home learning due to the number of positive cases.
“It has taken out 50 per cent of our teaching staff,” said Ken Sampson, superintendent of Holy Spirit Catholic Schools. He added an additional 50 per cent of its support staff has also been impacted.
He said pairing that with minimal available substitute teachers, it meant students needed to shift to at-home learning. He added the division filled out the templates mapped out by the province so the transition could happen.
“It was hinging on the fact that we would not be able to adequately provide effective and safe learning environments for our students in an in-person environment, as such, we had to be able to move in a direction to continue that learning but in a very different modality,” Sampson said.
Westwind School Division is also dealing with multiple cases of COVID-19 in Cardston schools this week.
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The school’s website reads, “AHS has informed us that at least one of these positive cases connected to Cardston Junior High School has been identified as having a COVID-19 variant of concern. Out of an abundance of caution and care for our school community and their health and safety, we have decided that Cardston Junior High will temporarily transition ALL STUDENTS from in-person to at-home learning beginning Monday, March 15, 2021.”
Active cases in the city and in the Cardston/Kainai area surged over the weekend.
There were 46 new cases identified since Sunday in Lethbridge, bringing the total of active cases to 447.
The Cardston/Kainai region has seen active cases increase to 76.
In terms of hospitalizations, there are currently 25 COVID-19 positive individuals at Chinook Regional Hospital, with four of those in the ICU.
Hinshaw has said looking at regional restrictions has not been ruled out for communities that continue to see a rise in cases.
“No decision has been made on that, but certainly if we see rapid rise in cases which leads to rapid rises in hospitalizations, then additional measures may need to be considered whether that’s regional or what kind of geographic area that might apply to,” she said.
There are a number of active outbreaks listed in the South zone, nine of those are in Lethbridge, including one at the Chinook Regional Hospital, and a number of outbreaks at supportive living facilities.