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COVID-19 cases continue to spike in central Alberta schools

COVID-19 cases keep popping up in schools across central Alberta.
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Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School added one new case Tuesday and is on outbreak status with five to nine cases according to Alberta Health. (File photo by SEAN MCINTOSH/Advocate staff)

COVID-19 cases keep popping up in schools across central Alberta.

Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School added one new case Tuesday and is on outbreak status with five to nine cases according to Alberta Health.

According to Support our Students, an online advocate for safe schools, the school has had 11 COVID-19 cases since Jan. 1.

Red Deer’s Alternative School Centre also reported a COVID-19 case Tuesday.

Ponoka Secondary moved to online learning earlier this week, citing significant growth in cases. The number of cases jumped from one confirmed case on March 11 to nine active cases as of March 15.

In a letter, the school said they needed to move to online learning because of the number of staff and students unable to attend school because of self-isolation requirements.

Ponoka Elementary is also on the Alberta Health outbreak list with five to nine cases.

Read more:

Ponoka high school temporarily moves to online classes

Several Red Deer schools, including St. Joseph High School, St. Thomas Aquinas School, St. Teresa of Avila and St. Patrick’s Community School are still on outbreak status with 10-plus cases. They have each had 10 cases respectively since Jan. 1, according to Support our Students.

Sylvan Lake’s Fox Run School added a case last Sunday and is on the outbreak list with 5-9 COVID-19 cases, H.J. Cody High School also had a new case Monday.

Notre Dame High School in Red Deer has declared an alert with 2-4 COVID-19 cases.

In Red Deer, Father Henri Voisin, West Park Elementary and Ecole Camille J. Lerouge School have between two to four COVID-19 cases according to Alberta Health.

As of Tuesday, 276 or about 11 per cent of the province’s schools, are on alert or have outbreaks, with 1,160 cases in total.

There are 193 schools are on alert, with 380 total cases.

Outbreaks have been declared in 83 schools, with a total of 780 cases.

In-school transmission has likely occurred in 205 schools. Of these, 107 have had only one new case occur as a result.



Byron Hackett

About the Author: Byron Hackett

Byron has been the sports reporter at the advocate since December of 2016. He likes to spend his time in cold hockey arenas accompanied by luke warm, watered down coffee.
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