New COVID-19 exposure dates added for Port Moody, Coquitlam schools

Coquitlam area parents will likely have to pay attention to the Fraser Health school web portal for the next few days even as their children are at home during winter break.

That’s because COVID-19 exposures continue to be posted for the last few days before school ended for winter break, including new exposure dates for Summit middle and Walton elementary in Coquitlam and Heritage Woods secondary in Port Moody.

According to the web portal, Summit middle had two more exposure dates added, with dates now of Dec.16, 17 and 18; Walton elementary school has been flagged for exposure dates of Dec. 16, 17 and 18 and Heritage Woods has exposure dates of Dec. 10, 11 and 17, 18.

There are currently 11 School District 43 schools on the website with COVID-19 exposures and one private school.

Meanwhile, the Coquitlam drive-thru testing station continues to operate over the winter holidays and will be open on Dec. 25. Fraser Health recommends anyone who has symptoms to fill out an online assessment and book an appointment for a test.

According to the health authority, a school “exposure” usually indicates a single person with a lab-confirmed COVID-19 infection attended school during their infectious period.

A school “cluster,” on the other hand, indicates possible school-based transmission with two or more lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 attending school while infectious, and an “outbreak” indicates “multiple individuals with lab-confirmed COVID-19 infection” and that “transmission is likely widespread.” 

There have been no clusters or outbreaks in School District 43 since school resumed in September.