3 more cases linked to COVID-19 outbreak at Pembroke school
Latest cases are neither students nor staff at the high school, which closed last week
Three people who are neither students nor staff at Fellowes High School in Pembroke, Ont., have tested positive for COVID-19.
The new cases are nevertheless connected to the outbreak that closed the school last week, according to local health officials. It was the first school in Ontario to close since classes resumed.
The three new cases were discovered through contact tracing, according to a news release issued Wednesday by the Renfrew County and District Health Unit, which said each of the three had been identified as a "high-risk contact."
So far, four staff members and a student at the school have tested positive for COVID-19. Fellowes High School has 650 students and about 55 employees.
The health unit said there were no other positive test results among students or staff Wednesday.
In an email to CBC, the health unit explained that it's asking people to finish two weeks of self-isolation — even if they got a negative test result — because symptoms can take up to that long to show up in some cases.
"A larger number of staff, students and close contacts had been identified as potential exposures," the health unit wrote. "For the safety of all residents, and to contain the spread, it is imperative that all staff, students and close contacts remain in self-isolation until the 14 days ... are completed."
