(COVID-19 Cases)
Contact tracing is underway after a Charlottetown Rural High School student tested positive for COVID-19. He has mild symptoms and is in self isolation.
He is one of two new cases announced by PEI Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Heather Morrison on Saturday .
The other is a young person between 10 and 19 who came to PEI on an Air Canada flight from Toronto to Charlottetown last Thursday. He is in self isolation. People who were on the flight should be tested.
In her update on Sunday afternoon, Dr. Heather Morrison stated that 70 close contacts and 283 casual contacts of the Charlottetown Rural student have been tested and all so far have come back negative.
Close contacts must self isolate for 14 days once the testing has been done.Casual contacts must check for any symptoms of the virus over the next few days.
A total of 1,100 tests were done on the weekend and all have come back negative.
At this time, Dr. Morrison says there is no need to close Charlottetown Rural High School as it has been cleaned thoroughly and masks will be available for students on Monday when class resumes.
Testing clinics were busy all day Saturday with additional staff added at the Park Street location in Charlottetown and expanded to Stratford.
Dr. Morrison does not believe the virus is being widespread in the community. 3,000 tests have come back negative over the past week.
However, the Public Health Office will continue to pursue the source of the virus that infected the student. Dr. Morrison believes it has to do with travel outside of PEI even though he had not traveled outside of the province.
Dr. Morrison reminds us to stay vigilant and use all of the safety protocols in place as the second wave of COVID-19 is affecting many areas of the country.
