A COVID-19 scare at Chatham-Kent Secondary School is over.
Several students at the high school were dismissed earlier this week after the school board was notified of a probable case there.
However, Chair of the Lambton Kent District School Board John Van Heck said the school board was notified on Thursday that the probable case came back negative, so public health officials were able to notify the affected students that they were cleared to return to school.
Meanwhile, the province has now confirmed that the positive cases of COVID-19 at Tecumseh Public School and McNaughton Avenue Public School in Chatham were both staff members.
Three more cases that were confirmed in two other Chatham-Kent schools -- one case at Ursuline College in Chatham and two cases at St. Anne Catholic Elementary in Blenheim -- were all listed as students.
At the St. Clair Catholic District School Board, officials also sent home a letter to parents and guardians earlier this week, notifying them that they should be prepared in case their children need to make a sudden transition to online learning.
SCCDSB Chair Deb Crawford said that was a precautionary notice to remind parents that they should have access to technology at home for their children in case they are dismissed from class, adding that the board has no intention of shutting down any schools at this point.
"We are really heartened by the effectiveness of the precautions that have been put in place at the board," said Crawford. "When we have had positive cases, it has been limited and the protocols that are in place have kept everyone else healthy and safe -- we have not had any outbreaks at our schools."
Both the SCCDSB and the LKDSB also received high praise from Chatham-Kent's Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Colby for their preparation and efforts throughout the pandemic so far.
"These precautionary isolations have gone very smoothly, I would say," said Dr. Colby. "We haven't had any evidence of transmission within the school environment... it's just a question of managing positives that are contacts of other cases that happen to be in the school system."
Dr. Colby is also reminding parents that if they are required to take any action with regard to students in school, they will be contacted by Chatham-Kent public health.
He said if parents don't hear from CK public health, they don't have anything to be concerned about.
"I think that has been a little bit misunderstood," said Dr. Colby. "[Some parents] think if there is a school mentioned, we will be calling everybody -- we only call the people that need to be called."