New COVID-19 cases close 2 P.E.I. schools

P.E.I.'s Chief Public Health Office announced four new cases of COVID-19 late on Sunday with connections to two schools.

Those two schools, Westwood Primary and Eliot River Elementary in Cornwall, are closed Monday.

The four cases are two people in their 30s and two children under the age of 12, all members of the same household.

The four cases were confirmed late in the day Sunday, and the province sent out a news release shortly after 9 p.m. The four had recently travelled outside of P.E.I. and tested negative on arrival, but subsequent tests came back positive for all of them.

One child attends Westwood Primary and the other attends Eliot River Elementary. The children werenot symptomatic when they both attended school on Wednesday, Nov. 3, but health officials say theymay have been infectious on that day.

The Chief Public Health Office describes the risk of exposure as low, but made the decision to close the schools Monday to give time for contact tracing, testing of close contacts and deep cleaning of the schools.

Public health is contacting all individuals who need to be tested. That includes students, teachers and staff in the cohorts with the students and those on the bus the children travelled on, Bus #81.

All close contacts are being told to get tested and self-isolate until they see a negative result. Staff and students who are not contacted by public health do not require testing, but as usual anyone experiencing symptoms should get tested.

The Chief Public Health Office said this is not considered an outbreak, as there is not yet any evidence of community spread.

There are currently seven active cases of COVID-19 on P.E.I., and there have been a total of 324.