CARSTAIRS - Several more Chinook’s Edge School Division (CESD) schools in the district are on either alert or outbreak status following positive COVID-19 tests, superintendent Kurt Sacher said Tuesday.
About 85 students and staff at Hugh Sutherland School in Carstairs are self-isolating at home after two positive cases.
With two cases, the school is on alert status, and the isolations are expected to end on or about April 23, he said.
Olds Koinonia Christian School is on outbreak status after between five and nine positive cases were identified.
About 150 students, and a few staff members, at that school are self-isolating, representing about half the school’s student population. He expects the isolation there to end by April 26.
There has been one recent positive case at Sundre High School, with about 45 students and staff isolating. The isolations there are also expected to end by April 26.
Ecole Olds High School, Cremona School and Reed Ranch School have all recently had students and staff isolating following positive cases.
Keeping track of the positive cases has created a great deal of work for school staff, he said.
“It requires a lot of extra effort from the administrators and administrative support to get the data that Alberta Health needs,” he said. “Alberta Health is asking a lot of schools and schools have stepped up to the plate.
“We are really grateful for what they are doing to help Alberta Health with some of the primary contract tracing, the filling out of paperwork, and there is a significant amount of paperwork that Alberta Health requires from the schools.”
Chinook’s Edge schools are on spring break next week.
