An outbreak has been declared at St. Joseph's Catholic High School in Barrie.
According to updated reporting from the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, the school was declared in outbreak on Dec. 11, which was reported to the public this afternoon.
On Friday, one new case was reported at the Cundles Road East school, with two classrooms closed. This adds to three other active cases at the school reported on Dec. 7, Nov. 27 and Nov. 23 with two classrooms closed as a result of those cases. There were also additional cases reported on Nov. 23 and Oct. 23 at the school that have since recovered.
An outbreak at Banting Memorial High School in Alliston that was declared on Dec. 3 has now been declared over as of Dec. 13, despite there being a new COVID case being reported at the school on Monday.
The health unit does not release information about whether positive cases are students or staff due to privacy concerns.
There are currently six schools across Simcoe County in outbreak: Portage View Public School in Barrie, Bear Creek Secondary School, Steele Street Public School in Barrie, Nantyr Shores Secondary School in Innisfil, St. Joseph's High School in Barrie, and Bradford District High School in Bradford. The health unit updates their outbreak reporting by 1 p.m. on weekdays.
An outbreak at a school is defined by the local health unit as two or more lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases in students and/or staff (or other visitors) with an epidemiological link (i.e. shared space or objects with each other), within a 14-day period, where at least one case could have contracted COVID-19 in the school (including transportation and before/after school care).
The schools all remain open.
