A total of five schools in Nanaimo and Ladysmith have ongoing COVID-19 exposure or cluster outbreaks after three more were reported over the weekend.
According to Island Health, Frank J Ney Elementary school in Nanaimo and Ladysmith Secondary School in Ladysmith have had COVID-19 exposures earlier this month and Randerson Ridge Elementary school in Nanaimo has an ongoing cluster outbreak.
These school exposures are in addition to two other cluster outbreaks that were reported by Island Health authority last week.
An ‘exposure’ is defined by Island Health as a single person with lab-confirmed COVID-19 infection who attended school during their infectious period.
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.
At Frank J Ney Elementary, the exposure took place on November 12, and at Ladysmith Secondary School, the exposure happened on November 9, 10, 12, and 13.
The cluster alert for Randerson Ridge Elementary school is in place for November 4, 5, 6, 9, and 10.
Cluster outbreaks are also ongoing at Dover Bay Secondary school and John Barsby Secondary school.
Nanaimo is also the centre of Vancouver Island’s first health care facility outbreak, after five staff members in a transitional care unit at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital tested positive for COVID-19 as of November 11.
