Dear St. Mary Catholic Secondary School students, staff and families,
The purpose of this communication is to give you an update on the COVID-19 status at St. Mary Catholic Secondary School.
Since we informed you of two confirmed cases yesterday (Friday, April 2), three additional cases have been confirmed at the school. Those individuals will remain at home until the Health Unit advises they may return to school. The identity of the individuals is protected by privacy legislation and cannot be shared.
HKPR District Health Unit has declared an outbreak at St. Mary Catholic Secondary 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.
As directed by HKPR District Health Unit, we have already dismissed the individuals from school who were known to have been in close contact with the individuals who are ill during their infectious period. Those identified as close contacts will be contacted by HKPR or Public Health Ontario to receive further direction. The individuals who are ill are at home isolating and will return to school when they have recovered.
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
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 will continue to let families know of any further developments and ask you to monitor your email over this long weekend for any additional updates. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us when school resumes following the Easter break.
Sincerely,
Jason Roberts
Principal
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