Cluster of COVID cases causes closure of Marystown school

Marystown and surrounding communities on the Burin Peninsula have been put on Alert Level 3 as Public Health officials grapple with an outbreak of COVID-19 cases that has shut down Sacred Heart Academy in the town.

Of the 27 new cases in the Eastern Health region announced Friday, Oct. 22, 21 are students at the school. Staff were busy Friday preparing resources for online learning.

All communities from Red Harbour south to Epworthgrand Salmonier are now under health measures that include limited gatherings at home and formal events. Group and team sports and recreational events are cancelled. Restaurants can remain open at 50 per cent capacity, but performance spaces, bars, lounges, cinemas and bingo halls must close.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald, back from a weeks-long break, said Friday the vaccination rate is quite good in the area for people over the age of 50.

“But they are progressively lower with each age category, down to the 20-29 years age category with the lowest rate of 67 per cent fully vaccinated,” she said during an unscheduled briefing.

The average vaccination rate in the area is 82.7 per cent, with a high of almost 97 per cent in the 70-79 age category. The rate is only slightly below average for teenagers, about 78 per cent.

INVESTIGATION CONTINUES

Fitzgerald said the fact that younger children cannot be vaccinated likely explains why cases spread so quickly in the area, although the investigation is ongoing.

“At this point in time, it looks like the first onset of symptoms was over the past weekend,” she said. “None of these children are vaccinated, unfortunately, and there’s a fair amount of interaction in the school.”

She said the cases span several grade levels.

Fitzgerald said officials are not sure if a sports tournament in the region last weekend played a role in the outbreak.

Enhanced cleaning protocols have been implemented at other schools on the peninsula, but Sacred Heart is, so far, the only school that must close.

Asked about an earlier promise that the vaccine passport system might mean non-essential businesses could stay open during an outbreak, Fitzgerald said it is far too early to allow that to happen at this point.

“This is happening at a time when we’re just bringing the passport in, so as time goes on and we see how the passport works, that may be something that we’ll be able to delineate a little bit more clearly,” she said.

“People have to get used to how to use it … and we have to make sure that we have widespread enough uptake.”