Prince Edward Island reports seven new cases of COVID-19 Friday, 31 active cases

(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette)

Prince Edward Island is reporting seven new cases of COVID-19 Friday, bringing the total number of active cases in the province to 31.

Two of the new cases are in individuals under age 12, three are in their 20s, one is in their 30s and one is in their 40s. Two cases are close contacts of previously announced cases and the remaining five are related to travel.

“Earlier this week we announced two cases associated with Westwood Primary School. Testing has confirmed there has been in-school transmission and this situation is now considered an outbreak,” said Dr. Heather Morrison, Prince Edward Island’s chief public health officer, in a news conference Friday.

In just over three weeks, there have been almost 80 cases of COVID-19 on the Island.

“We’ve had now two school-related outbreaks, five workplace outbreaks, cases in two early learning childcare centres, numerous sports teams have been identified as close or casual contacts,” said Morrison.

“Currently there are 115 close contacts being followed, including over 65 children, and there are many more casual contacts related to the current active cases.”

HOLIDAY CONCERN

Morrison says, over the last three days, almost 7,600 people have been tested for COVID-19 in P.E.I., including over 3,500 PCR tests. One third of the tests were in youth under the age of 19.

“At this point, while our public health resources are stretched, we are still able to do contact tracing and follow up with cases and their close contacts,” said Morrison.

“While we get this current wave under control, it does require focused attention and intentional behaviours. We are very concerned about the possibility of increased transmission over the holiday season. We do not want to see people in hospital and we do not want to have large numbers of families in isolation at Christmastime. The choices we make today and in the days leading up to Christmas will have an impact on us as individuals, families, and the entire province.”

This time last year, P.E.I. enforced circuit breaker measures related to a COVID-19 outbreak.

“I do not want us to go back to circuit breaker measures or to impose significant restrictions on our ability to gather or travel. We do not want to go back to the restrictions that were in place last year,” said Morrison.

SCHOOLS REOPENING

The last case associated with Ecole La-Belle-Cloche cluster was on Tuesday, Dec. 7. The school will reopen on Monday, Dec. 13.

“Some students will be on a daily home-testing protocol. Students, staff, and volunteers at Ecole La-Belle-Cloche should arrange to have a PCR test if they develop any symptoms and isolate until the results come back. They should not attend school if they are not feeling well,” said Morrison.

A pop-up testing clinic will be available at the Souris Hospital on Sunday, Dec. 12 between 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m.

“It is also our advice that other schools in Eastern Kings, that were closed to allow students time to be tested, can reopen on Monday, Dec. 13,” said Morrison.

“Our final recommendation to the public school branch is that Westwood Primary School can reopen on Monday, Dec. 13, except for two classes, with students and staff in these affected classes being required to self-isolate, given that they are close contacts.”

Families with children in these classes, and impacted staff, will be contacted by public health with testing and isolation instructions.

“Although there is an outbreak at this school, we are comfortable with other students and staff members, those who are not close contacts, to return to school given we know the source of this outbreak and have been able to link these school-based cases to travel outside of P.E.I.,” said Morrison.