After a trio of cases at Good Shepherd School in Okotoks the school is back to normal thanks to the fast response from Alberta Health Services and the Christ The Redeemer Catholic School Division.

Associate Superintendent Mariette Moss says they believe the incidents were separate and not spread in-school.

"In each case, we were notified immediately by the parents, they are three separate cases. We believe there was no in-school transmission at all. We believe the students each got them from home and are pretty confident that things are contained."

Moss says they jumped right into action as soon as they received the calls, beginning the tracing process with AHS.

"As soon as parents were notified they stopped sending their kids to school, we engaged in our part informing parents right away who were identified as a close contact and then we worked with AHS to start the contact tracing process."

She says they notified anyone who may have been in contact to ensure there is no spread.

"Our first obligation is to identify all the close contacts, whether it be a staff member or students and let them know that they will need to isolate for a certain number of days based on when we get the information. After the close contacts are notified we follow up with a general notification to all the parents to let them know there was a case in the school then we continue with all of our measures to keep it safe."

Good Shepherd, like every school, has been extremely careful to maintain safety, Moss says they have been Covid free for 10 weeks before this case.

The school remains on close watch however students and staff will continue as normal according to Moss.

"In all the cases that we've had, we haven't had to shut any schools down at all. We monitor it very closely and work with AHS very closely, When they see it is necessary to do a site inspection to make sure all protocols are followed we do that, In all Christ the Redeemer's inspections we've done very well with great feedback."

Moss says she is aware that these situations are stressful for parents and staff alike and they will continue to be as transparent as possible with the parents to ensure they know what is happening as quickly as possible.

 

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