The COVID-19 pandemic has been identified within a Brandon school, according to a statement released by the Manitoba government on Saturday.
Public health officials are advising of a possible COVID-19 exposure at École New Era School between 8:45 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on Friday. A statement from the Brandon School Division places the confirmed case within a Grade 5-6 classroom. The person briefly attended the school while they were asymptomatic.
It’s unclear by the language used in the news releases released during the weekend whether the person diagnosed with COVID-19 was a student, teacher or anyone else who might have been in the classroom.
Parents and children in the affected cohort have been notified about the situation. Both public health and the school division confirmed that the case was not acquired at the school.
The province deemed the situation low risk because the person in question wore a mask and maintained physical distancing while at the school. Public health has not identified any close contacts and no one else who was at the school is being asked to self-isolate, but to monitor themselves for symptoms.
The site is not being elevated on the Pandemic Response System and classes were scheduled to resume today after additional cleaning took place during the weekend.
In the same statement, the government reported that the Carberry Health Centre has been raised to level red (critical) after two previously announced cases of COVID-19 were identified as a health-care worker and an outpatient at the facility.
Several other staff members have been identified as close contacts and must self-isolate and monitor for symptoms. The facility was closed to both acute and emergency care late Friday, with plans to reopen Sept. 24.
Other patients have been moved to nearby facilities in the area. No exposures have been linked to the Carberry facility as of Saturday.
Meanwhile, the province revealed 35 new cases of COVID-19 during the weekend — 17 on Saturday and 18 on Sunday.
Three of these new cases were in the Prairie Mountain Health region, seven were reported in Interlake-Eastern, five in Southern Health, 19 in Winnipeg and one in the Northern Health Region.
The province is now contending with 239 active cases, of which 44 originate in Prairie Mountain Health, where 447 people have recovered and one person has died.
As of Sunday, 15 people remain in hospital provincewide due to the virus, with three people being in intensive care.
This latest update brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Manitoba to 1,428 and a five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate of 1.1 per cent.
Preliminary laboratory testing numbers show 1,525 tests were completed on Saturday, bringing the total number of lab tests completed since early February to 154,756.
» The Brandon Sun
