A second school exposure of COVID-19 on Vancouver Island has taken place in Nanaimo, according to an alert issued by Island Health.
The advisory states that the exposure occurred on November 5 and November 6 at John Barsby Secondary in Nanaimo.
An exposure is defined by Island Health as a single person with lab-confirmed COVID-19 infection who attended school during their infectious period.
Around the same time as the exposure took place at John Barsby, Dover Bay Secondary — another high school in Nanaimo — reported a cluster outbreak.
A ‘cluster’ means two or more individuals with lab-confirmed COVID-19 infection attended school during their infectious period. These cases may be linked to school-based transmission.
According to Island Health, families do not need to take any action if a COVID-19 exposure has taken place at their school unless they are contacted by B.C. public health or school officials.
Contact tracing has been initiated to determine how the individual was infected and who they were in close contact with.
Close contacts who may be at risk are notified and advised to to self-isolate and monitor for symptoms for 14 days.
School exposure events will be posted on Island Health’s exposure list for two weeks after they have been identified.
