P.E.I. reports two more COVID-19 cases linked to school outbreak, active cases rise to record 37

"I am concerned about this outbreak and the impact on children and families," said Dr. Heather Morrison, P.E.I. chief medical officer of health during a news update on Sept. 16, 2021.

HALIFAX -

Health officials in Prince Edward Island announced two additional cases of COVID-19 on Thursday night, both linked to the outbreak at a Charlottetown elementary school.

In a release issued Thursday night, P.E.I. chief public health officer Dr. Heather Morrison announced the two cases linked to the outbreak at West Royalty Elementary, both in children ages 10 to 19.

One of the new cases involves a student at École La-Belle-Cloche in Souris who attended school on Thursday. École La-Belle-Cloche will be closed on Friday, Sept. 17 as health officials conduct comprehensive contact tracing and the school is cleaned extensively.

The province says all schools in the Public Schools Branch (PSB) and Commission scolaire de langue français (CSLF) have moved to elevated risk enhanced public health measures which includes masking for grades four through twelve and cohorting.

“This most recent case at École La-Belle-Cloche is connected to the West Royalty Elementary School outbreak and all close contacts at École La-Belle-Cloche will be called by public health to provide isolation and testing instructions,” said Morrison in a news release.

“Public health staff will be working to identify all of the close contacts. As always, it is important that we all follow the basic public health measures, including hand hygiene, physical distancing and staying home when not feeling well and get tested if they have any symptoms of COVID-19, even mild ones.”

The province says students, teachers, and staff who are identified as close contacts will be contacted directly by public health for isolation and testing instructions. Close contacts of this case will be asked to get tested on Monday, Sept. 20 at the Charlottetown Testing Clinic (64 Park Street) between 8:00 am and 4:00 pm or at the Montague Testing Clinic (14 Rosedale Road) between 9:30 am – 2:00 pm.

All students and staff at École La-Belle-Cloche who are not identified as close contacts should monitor themselves for symptoms, and if they experience any symptoms get tested and self-isolate until they receive a negative result.

During a news update earlier Thursday afternoon, Morrison announced seven new cases, all involving close contacts of the outbreak at West Royalty Elementary.

Prince Edward Island currently has 37 active cases of COVID-19, the highest number of active cases in the province since the pandemic began, and has had a total of 270 positive cases.