March 15, 2021
Dear St. Michael Catholic Elementary School students, staff and families,
We are providing an update to share that we have a second confirmed case of COVID-19 at our
school. That individual will remain at home until the Health Unit advises they may return to
school. The identity of the individual is protected by privacy legislation and cannot be shared.
As a result of the investigation by the Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge (HKPR) District Health
Unit, the HKPR District Health Unit has declared an outbreak at St. Michael school.
The term ‘outbreak’ is used provincially by public health units when they believe there is
evidence that at least one person could have reasonably acquired their infection within the
school.
We appreciate that this news may be concerning for our students, staff and parents. We want to
assure you that we continue to work closely with the HKPR Health Unit to respond to this issue,
and we continue to follow all public health and provincial guidelines to protect student and staff
safety.
In terms of our school operations, we are sharing the following information:
Our school remains OPEN.
HKPR will be providing us with some short-term directions regarding further limiting
student and staff contacts and limiting visitors.
Signs will be posted on school doors identifying the current outbreak status.
We continue to implement our enhanced daily pandemic cleaning protocols, and regular
disinfection of our school with the electro-static sprayer.
At this time, the HKPR District Health Unit would like to remind members of our school
community (and all members of our community) to limit contact with others and remain only in
close contact with household members.
All students and staff are asked to continue to self-monitor for signs and symptoms of COVID 19; this includes completing the daily self-assessment for symptoms which is available at
https://covid-19.ontario.ca/school-screening/
If you or your child develop one of these symptoms, please immediately self-isolate at home,
and seek testing. Please keep your child or yourself at home even if symptoms seem mild,
like a common cold. As always, please remember to inform us if your child will be absent from
school.
To protect yourselves, your children and the community, the HKPR District Health Unit
recommends that you physically distance from others as much as possible; stay home when
sick; wear a mask when indoors, on a bus, or whenever you cannot maintain a two metre
distance; clean hands often with soap and water or hand sanitizer; cough and sneeze into your
sleeve; avoid touching your face; avoiding sharing personal items with others; and avoid close
contact with anyone who is ill. We continue to follow all public health recommendations to help protect student and staff safety and we will let families know of any further developments. Should you have any questions,
please do not hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
Guy Charette
Principal
Author: Pete Fisher
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