A student at a second New Brunswick school has tested positive for COVID-19.
The new case is from a student at Academie Notre-Dame in Dalhousie, making it the second school in the province to announce a case this week, after Sugarloaf High in Campbellton.
Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Dominic Cardy said the outbreaks this week were the last thing any New Brunswicker wanted to hear.
“This is a time which we all hoped would not reach us here in New Brunswick, after a long summer where we had a respite from a disease that’s ravaging the world,” Cardy said.
With news of the outbreaks in Campbellton and Moncton this week, that sense of security is no longer warranted, the minister said.
Students at Sugarloaf High will start next week learning remotely, giving teachers an opportunity to prepare for the transition of students living in nearby Quebec regions to full-time online learning until the outbreaks are under control.
Contact tracing relating to the case at Academie Notre-Dame is continuing, and an announcement on next steps for that school is expected later this weekend.
Public Health guidelines have now changed for students of schools that are in the “orange” phase of the province’s recovery stages.
Starting when school returns Tuesday, masks will now be required for all students travelling on buses, no matter who they are sitting with.
Students in all grades will be required to wear masks throughout the day, unless they are eating, drinking or engaged in physical activity. Students from kindergarten through grade eight will also have an exemption when they are working quietly alone.
Exemptions can be made for medical reasons, though Cardy said at a briefing Saturday that legitimate reasons are few and far between.
All intramural, interscholastic and extra-curricular activities are suspended in regions currently in the orange phase.
Cardy said he was hoping the day where he would have to announce a case in a public school would never come.
“I can, as education minister, only imagine the stress that parents and families, teachers are feeling across the province right now.”
The full list of changes for schools in the Moncton and Campbellton regions, as posted to the government’s website can be found here.
