Yukon officials not 'overly concerned' about COVID-19 case at Whitehorse school

Yukon officials say they are prepared for a COVID-19 case announced at Porter Creek Secondary this week.

Dr. Catherine Elliot, Yukon's acting chief medical officer of health, said at a media teleconference on Thursday that the situation is something that health officials expected going into this school year.

"It's not something that we are overly concerned about, because we have the measures in place that we need for this type of situation."

She said health officials have "worked very closely" with the Department of Education to develop guidelines to keep schools safe.

"The guidance was rolled out very quickly, and as planned, and we're seeing people do what they need to do in order to protect the community," said Elliott.

Continuing to monitor

As of Thursday, Elliott said there remains only one confirmed case at Porter Creek School, though she said it wouldn't be surprising to see one or two other cases from this case. 

"We continue to monitor in the community as well, and so other cases in schools are not unexpected, either," she said.

Four separate grade 9 and 10 classes at the school were impacted including:

• Period 1 - New Media/Literary Studies 10 in room 101

• Period 2 - Science 10 in room 141

• Period 3 - Math 9 in room 149

• Period 4 - Physical Education 10 in gym E

Students in those classes who are fully vaccinated and not immunocompromised are asked to monitor for symptoms until Sept. 17 while students who are either partially or not vaccinated should self-isolate until Sept. 13 and then monitor for symptoms until Sept. 17.

Importance of getting vaccinated

People who are directly impacted by this situation were sent letters, Elliott added, with specific guidance from Yukon Communicable Disease Control.

She emphasized the importance of all eligible Yukoners getting vaccinated, saying that youth are more at risk if adults in their circle get infected.

Right now 72 per cent of Yukoners in the 12 to 17 age group have been fully vaccinated, a number Elliott says health officials are hoping to bump up to 85 per cent. 

"I get concerned about situations where people have a very high number of contacts and situations where vaccination rates are low. These are the things that mostly keep me up at night," she said.

Nicole Morgan, the deputy minister of education, said schools are prepared and have operational plans in place to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

She said the department is prepared for multiple scenarios over the coming year including individual cases, and groups of students being asked to isolate.

"The scenario we have not seen yet but we know we need to plan for is the closure of schools for a short period of time should there be a direction to do so from a public health perspective," she said. 

Morgan said keeping schools open is good for the well-being of students and of the community.

Elliott said the decision to shut down schools would be based on risk assessment based on factors such as the number of cases and the amount of people exposed.

"It's a case by case risk analysis ... we recognize how important it is for children and schools to continue their activities for health and well being. We only ask people to do what is necessary," Elliott said.