LAC LA BICHE - While Alberta's COVID-19 officials continue to define cases of the virus at the J. A. Williams High School in Lac La Biche as an 'outbreak,' a local school division representative said on Wednesday that only two active cases of the virus were currently associated with the school.
According to provincial officials, outbreak status is reached when there are between five and nine active cases of the coronavirus in a school. An 'alert' status is highlighted when there are between two and four active cases. The virtual online map of school areas displayed on the provincial government's COVID website shows areas of the province with 'outbreak' status highlighted in purple.
On Wednesday, however, that purple colouring in the Lac La Biche region was not reflective of the actual situation, said Northern Lights Public Schools spokesperson Nicole Garner
"JAWS is listed as an outbreak, but currently has just two cases that are considered active," confirmed Garner, explaining that the "outbreak" status is expected to be removed as the 10-day quarantine time for students and staff affected by five late February cases has run its course. "There have been no further cases connected to that school since the last two cases were identified at the end of February."
A similar change to the provincial COVID status map is expected at the Kikino School as well, as two cases reported at that school toward the end of February have resulted in the completion of 10-day quarantines for anyone in contact.
"Similarly with Kikino there are two cases considered to be active that were identified at the end of February, with no additional cases identified since then," he said, expecting the affected students and staff to be returning to school immediately.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the division was reporting three other schools with single cases of COVID that have resulted in some students and staff needing to quarantine. According to the province's status map, alerts only begin when two or more active cases in a school are identifies.
On Wednesday, the province was also reporting an alert status at the Light of Christ Catholic School in Lac La Biche with two active cases. How many students or staff have been affected by those cases, or how much longer a quarantine will be in effect at the school was not known by the press time of this original article, but may be updated when information comes in.
Provincial COVID maps were still showing the three Lac La Biche area schools, JAWS, Kikino and Light of Christ with 'outbreak', and 'alert' status respectively on Wednesday evening following the latest daily pandemic update from the province's Chief Medical Officer of Health.
