COVID-19 outbreak declared at Ross Sheppard High School

A COVID-19 outbreak was declared Sunday at public high school in west Edmonton after second person tested positive for the disease.

Alberta Health Services has advised the school that an additional 53 Grade 10 students and two staff members at Ross Sheppard High School need to be tested and will be required to self-isolate at home for 14-days.

The first case at Ross Sheppard was confirmed by Alberta Health Services on Sept. 8 and sent nearly 100 students into isolation after just one day of classes. Three classes of Grade 10 students and their teachers — close to 100 people — were placed in quarantine at home for 14 days after someone in the group tested positive.

The school’s second case was confirmed over the weekend, school officials advised parents in a letter on Sunday.

“For privacy reasons we will not be sharing more information about the individual,” school principal Rick Stanley said in the letter.

“We are working closely with AHS to ensure necessary measures are in place to protect all students and staff.”

Ross Sheppard is among dozens of Alberta schools contending with possible COVID-19 exposures in the classroom.

Three Alberta schools — Henry Wise Wood High School in Calgary, St. Wilfrid Elementary in Calgary and Chinook School in Lethbridge — have previously reported outbreaks. More than 20 schools across the province have individual cases.

According to AHS guidelines, an outbreak is declared when there are two or more cases confirmed in a school within a 14-day period.

The letter states that the two cases at Ross Sheppard are considered unrelated and neither case was transmitted or contracted at the school.

READ No learners participated in WE-run system, Liberals say, to shock of charity that hired 9 students

Affected students have been informed and a deep clean of the school will be completely before students return to school on Monday, the letter reads.

As of Friday, Alberta Health Services had confirmed 24 cases of COVID-19 linked to 21 schools across the province. Alberta Health Services has committed to updating its outbreak map for schools each weekday.