Rainy River District School Board has received notification of a positive COVID-19 exposure of a student at Fort Frances High School. All close contacts of the case are being called and given instructions by Northwestern Health Unit. We are working with NWHU to make sure all potential risks are minimized, including closing one classroom. All other classes remain open. Families of students in the closed classroom have been notified directly.
Earlier this week, an additional school case was reported when a staff member at Rainy River High School tested positive. No classes were closed; the staff member had not been in contact with any staff or students while infectious.
Please note that a close contact is considered someone who has been within 2 metres of someone for longer than 15 minutes. Individuals passing by in a hallway are not considered contacts and have very minimal risk of spreading infection.
Due to our COVID-19 prevention strategies in place, those staff and students not contacted by public health are deemed to be at no additional risk and can continue to attend school as usual. If your student develops any symptom, please have them stay home from school and contact the local assessment centre to get tested. All students should continue to use the Government of Ontario’s school screening tool daily before attending school.
For reasons of privacy, we will minimize sharing personal information about any case and encourage others to avoid identifying individuals.
If you have questions, please contact NWHU at 1-866-468-2240.
