Christian Heritage outbreak increases to 14 cases

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/09/2021 (1575 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The COVID-19 outbreak at Brandon’s Christian Heritage School continues to worsen, with the province registering 14 cases as of Wednesday evening.

According to the government’s outbreak dashboard, two staff members and 12 “non-staff” members from this institution have recently contracted the coronavirus.

This marks an increase from 10 cases that were registered Monday evening and the seven cases that were on display as of last Friday.

Because of the outbreak, which is linked to the delta variant, a Grade 3 class at Christian Heritage transitioned from in-person learning to remote learning and will remain there until at least the end of this week.

Additionally, individuals from Grade 1, 4, 5, 6 and kindergarten classes have also been impacted by the outbreak, according to Christian Heritage board of directors president Michel Latreille.

In a Tuesday evening email to the Sun, Latreille said the province first notified Christian Heritage about this spread on Sept. 18, with an official notice sent out to parents that same day.

On Sept. 21, the Grade 3 class was moved to remote learning, although Latreille maintained on Tuesday that “any additional cases as of the time of this statement that are attributed to the CHS community were acquired outside of the school.”

Since the beginning of the 2021-22 academic year, Christian Heritage is the only K-12 school in Brandon to endure a major COVID “outbreak” as designated by government health officials.

However, other local institutions have also dealt with COVID-19 exposures on a smaller scale. This includes Vincent Massey High School (Grade 12 class), Riverheights School (Grade 1 class), Betty Gibson School (Grade 1/2 class) École New Era School (Grade 5/6 class), Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School (Grade 10) and École O’Kelly School (three separate grades).

While Christian Heritage is managed by Christian Schools International, and not the Brandon School Division, Latreille stated the institution is still bound by Manitoba’s COVID-19 safety protocols.

“From the outset of this pandemic, our response has always been to adhere as closely as possible to public-health orders and directives given by Manitoba Education and Public Health,” the president wrote.

“Policies pertaining to Manitoba Education’s ‘Restoring Safe Schools’ COVID-19 response are among many policies that we have happily adhered to and will continue doing so going forward.”

When asked about the possibility of moving the entire school to remote learning, Latreille said Christian Heritage officials are ready to initiate more aggressive measures to stop transmission if the circumstances demand it.

“The option of full school remote learning is certainly one that we have already been considering and will be ready to implement at the right time based on a number of factors that we are monitoring on an ongoing basis,” Latreille wrote Tuesday night.

Latreille also mentioned that Christian Heritage didn’t have to contend with COVID-19 exposures of this magnitude during the previous academic year.

Christian Heritage School first opened its doors in 1975 and currently supports a student population of 158.

As of Wednesday evening, the province identified a total of 133 COVID cases in Manitoba K-12 since the beginning of the fall term.

Of these 133 cases, 119 cases are students and the remaining 14 are school staff.

» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @KyleDarbyson