Newmarket has recorded its first COVID school case at Sir William Mulock Secondary School.
Parents at the 705 Columbus Way high school woke up this morning, Oct. 2, to an email from York Region Public Health notifying them of one confirmed positive case in a student at the school.
A concerned parent told NewmarketToday that the email forwarded from the school principal was “glitched in code” and unreadable as a result. They could only read the subject line and initial text in the body of the email.
“Clearly, I freaked out not knowing the context or if my kids were to go to class or not, so I had to call the school at 7:15 a.m.,” the parent said. “The secretary informed me on the phone that if I did not receive a personal phone call telling me to keep my kids home then it was not in their class and they should be in school by 8 a.m.”
The school and all classes remain open at this time.
According to the notice sent to parents from York Region Public Health, the student last attended the school on Monday, Sept. 28. The public health unit said it is conducting a thorough investigation and the class of this student has been advised to stay home for 14 days.
The parent said cohort A attended school this week on Monday, Sept. 28, Wednesday, Sept. 30, and Friday, Oct. 2.
The school board emphasizes that a positive case at a school does not mean the individual was exposed to COVID-19 at the school.
They may have been exposed somewhere else in the community, and that appears to be the case with the local student, York Region District School Board spokesperson Licinio Miguelo said.
“While we appreciate this is concerning, we understand that the risk to others who were at the school on this day is low because of health and safety measures in place, which include mask wearing and frequent hand sanitizing,” said Miguelo. “It is important to note that the virus was acquired in the community and not at the school.”
The public board is working with public health and taking all appropriate steps for the health, safety and well-being of our school community, he added.
“In addition to our regular twice-daily cleaning of high touch surfaces, additional cleaning of affected areas will be undertaken,” said Miguelo. “The building remains safe and open for our students and staff members.”
“As I’m sure you can appreciate, we can’t go into details about who is affected, however, those that are required to self-isolate have received specific information directly from public health,” Miguelo added. “We continue to work closely with York Region Public Health to keep our students, staff and families safe.”
Public health will contact individuals if they are considered close contacts. If you are not contacted by public health, you are not considered a close contact.
As a precautionary measure, public health advises parents to watch for signs and symptoms of COVID-19, which can include a fever of 37.8C or higher, new or worsening cough, shortness of breath, sore throat or difficulty breathing, altered smell or taste, and runny nose.
Although less common, others signs and symptoms in children may include unexplained fatigue, worsening of chronic conditions, chills, headache, red/purple discoloration to hands, fingers, feet and/or toes, and pink eye.
“Sir William Mulock Secondary School has worked diligently to implement strict public health measures within the school environment such as physical distancing of students and staff, increased hand hygiene, cohorting of classrooms and the wearing of personal protective equipment to reduce the risk of acquiring COVID-19,” public health stated.
Not including this case, as of Oct. 1, York Region has 31 school-related COVID cases, with 22 schools across the region under surveillance as a result of students and staff confirmed with COVID cases acquired outside of the school. To date, there has been one school outbreak, at Blue Willow Public School in Vaughan, that is now resolved.
