Six Brooksbank Elementary classes warned of COVID exposure in North Van

Six classes at North Vancouver’s Brooksbank Elementary have now been told to watch for COVID symptoms until Feb. 12 after an exposure at the school was reported last week.

Students in five classes, including a kindergarten class, Grade 1, Grade 2/3, 4/5 and 5/6 class have all been told to self-monitor earlier this week.

In a letter sent to families this weekend, Vancouver Coastal Health said the dates of the exposure were Jan. 25 to 28.

Parents of students in another Grade 2 class at the school also received a letter Feb. 1 listing the same exposure dates.

High school students in a Grade 8 PE and English cohort at Sutherland Secondary also received a notice of a COVID-19 exposure on the same dates.

Public health is directly notifying any close contacts.

It's the third time Sutherland students have been notified of an exposure at the school since October.

Meanwhile, a kindergarten class at West Vancouver’s Chartwell Elementary has just ended two weeks of self-isolation at home following a COVID exposure at that school on Jan. 14 and 18.

Families of students at Mulgrave independent school in West Vancouver were also recently informed that a small number of Grade 8 students were self-isolating after a classmate tested positive. The student was not at school when considered infectious but had been in close contact with some other classmates in an out-of-school setting, according to the letter.

The latest exposure notices come as new health and safety guidelines set to be announced Thursday by Education Minister Jennifer Whiteside and the province's medical health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.

Other exposures in North Shore schools reported in the last month include a Grade 6/7 French classes at Ecole Cleveland, on Jan. 20 and 21, a class at Carisbrooke Elementary, Jan. 14, 15, 19 and 20, a Grade 2 class at Queen Mary Community Elementary on Jan. 13 and four Grade 10 classes at St. Thomas Aquinas private school, on Jan. 13, 14 or 15.

There have also been cases reported in students or staff at Carson Graham Secondary in North Vancouver and Ecole Pauline Johnson and Sentinel Secondary in West Vancouver.

As of Jan. 29, there had been 994 COVID cases reported in teens and older children aged 10 to 19 in Vancouver Coastal Health since the pandemic started and 485 cases in children under 10. The numbers of cases in children and teens are about four times higher in Fraser Health, which has a larger population.