A second Covid-19 case of the week in Yellowknife has been confirmed, this time involving “an individual at a Yellowknife school,” the territorial government said.
The case is connected to the exposure advisory that warned people at the city’s Taste of Saigon restaurant on Monday afternoon that they needed to isolate and contact health officials. That advisory still stands.
The territorial government did not identify which school is affected, but École St Patrick High School issued a letter to parents confirming it was the school in question.
“A person with Covid-19 infection was present on April 19,” the letter reads. “Our best assessment is that the remainder of school staff and students are not contacts to Covid-19. Our office is not declaring an outbreak at present and will continue to monitor the situation closely.”
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Neither the school nor the territorial government stated whether the affected person was a student, staff member, or otherwise connected to the school.
The individual involved is isolating. There was no update on their condition.
In a news release late on Thursday, the territory said 40 contacts had been identified, the investigation was ongoing, and any staff and students identified as contacts were being sent into isolation for 14 days.
All staff and students at the school, whether or not they are contacts, will receive a letter of some form from public health.
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“The investigation at this time does not indicate an outbreak in this setting,” the territory’s chief public health officer, Dr Kami Kandola, said. “Students and teachers not identified as contacts should follow routine public health measures, monitor for symptoms, stay home if unwell and contact your local public health unit.”
Students who are required to isolate “will be supported by the school to continue their classes through distance learning,” the territory said.
A sample is being analyzed in southern Canada to check for variants of concern. There is no further word regarding the nature of the virus identified in this week’s first case, announced a day earlier.
That first case was identified following a call for recently returned travellers to get tested for Covid-19 after sewage samples suggested at least one instance of the virus was going undetected in Yellowknife.
Anyone in Taste of Saigon between 3pm and 4:30pm on Monday, April 19, should isolate at home for the next 14 days and call the city’s public health unit on (867) 767-9120, the territorial government said late on Wednesday.
There was no additional exposure warning on Thursday, beyond the suggestion that those associated with the school would receive letters.
