COVID-19 test tube. (Photo from Pixabay)COVID-19 test tube. (Photo from Pixabay)
Chatham

School outbreak declared in Blenheim

A new COVID-19 outbreak has been declared at Blenheim District High School.

Chatham-Kent Public Health declared the outbreak on Friday and reported it on Wednesday. Chatham-Kent Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Colby said the outbreak only involves two cases and it's not a problem because in-person classes are not in session and those affected are in isolation as a precaution.

The small school outbreaks at Ursuline College Catholic Secondary School in Chatham and A.A. Wright Public School in Wallaceburg have ended. They were declared over on Monday and Tuesday respectively. Two workplace outbreaks continue but there's only one case listed in that category.

Also on Wednesday, Dr. Colby said there are four people in Chatham-Kent who have tested positive for what has been called the "South Africa variant" of the COVID-19 virus. In total, 122 people have screened positive for variants in Chatham-Kent.

No new cases were reported by the health unit on Wednesday but there were two resolved cases to bring the total number of active cases to 36. Colby said about half of the current active cases involve variants.

Walpole Island First Nation has six active cases and three deaths.

Director of Public Health Teresa Bendo is urging people to focus on getting vaccinated, beating the virus, and being kind to ourselves and each other.

"This has been a long pandemic for all of us. Over the past 13 months I have seen vulnerability and I have seen frustration. I have seen friends struggle with their small business, colleagues lose loved ones, family members breakdown trying to juggle working from home, teaching from home, having to do everything from home. And I've seen frustration over one day being able to have a meal at a restaurant with your friends and the next day it's just take out," said Bendo.

Bendo said there's a new postcard campaign about to start to allow those who got vaccinated to send a postcard to their family and friends encouraging them to get the vaccine.

Read More Local Stories