COVID-19 outbreak at Kelowna school grows to five cases

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The COVID-19 outbreak at Kelowna's École de l’Anse-au-sable has grown by two cases, with five cases now linked to the school. 

Tuesday, the French language school sent a letter to parents and students that an outbreak had been identified at the school, the first in B.C. since students were sent back to school in September. Initially, three cases had been identified.

On Thursday, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced an additional two cases have been linked to the school's outbreak, bringing the total cases to five. The positive tests have come from both staff and students at the school. 

To date, there have been 213 COVID-19 "exposure events" in B.C. schools, but an outbreak is declared when transmission of the virus within the school is identified. Dr. Henry said the first positive case at the school was identified over the weekend, and an investigation was started Sunday, but Interior Health didn't publicly report the case until Tuesday. 

The first COVID-positive person attended the school on Oct. 13, 14 and 15. Dr. Henry said the initial person may have contracted the virus from travellers in Kelowna who were from a different area of the province, but the outbreak investigation is ongoing. 

There are currently 160 people at the school who are self-isolating for 14 days, after coming into close contact with the COVID-positive people at the school. Dr. Henry said she's confident they've identified all of the exposures at the school. 

She added more students could be asked to self-isolate, or the school could potentially be shut down entirely, if more transmission is identified throughout the school, but she said that would be "unlikely" given what she knows about the outbreak.