Outbreak Declared At Cornerstone Christian School

With the recent upsurge of COVID - 19 cases in the community, most notably Variants Of Concern (VOC), an outbreak has been declared by the Saskatchewan Health Authority for Cornerstone Christian School on March 21st.

On March 24th Cornerstone had five students contract COVID - 19.

It is unknown if any of the cases were caused by a VOC or by the original SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Attempts to arrange comment from Prairie South School Division’s superintendent Tony Baldwin were unsuccessful. We will attempt to get an update at a later date.

There were three schools in the Prairie South School Division with new cases of COVID - 19 on March 24th - SOUIRCE - Province Of Saskatchewan

On March 24th Cornerstone Christian School was closed with students moving to an on-line format.

On March 25th the Prairie South School Division announced after meeting public health officials to close their Moose Jaw schools and a school in Caronport effective March 29th and move to on-line learning. The schools are scheduled to re-open after the Easter break.

Additionally the Holy Trinity Catholic School Division announced following a meeting with public health officials to close their Moose Jaw schools and move to on-line learning effective March 29th with students expected to return to class after the Easter break.

Outbreaks are declared when there are two cases of COVID - 19 in the same facility away from the home or over a specified period of time. The final decision to declare an outbreak lies with the public health officer.

Outbreaks will remain listed until officially declared over by an SHA Medical Health Officer.

Generally, outbreaks would be declared after there were no new cases and two full incubation periods from the last individual who started having symptoms. For COVID-19 outbreaks, this would be 28 days (2 incubation periods of 14 days) after the last individuals started showing symptoms.

Variants Of Concern or VOC are mutated versions of the original virus which makes it more transmissible (communicable) between hosts (people). The VOCs are listed as a concern because they are listed as between 35 - 70 percent more transmissible and may cause more severe disease. Viruses continually mutate in order to more readily infect the host.

It is unknown why the lag time from declaring the outbreak to posting it on the Province’s web-site but after an enquiry by MJ Independent it is now up.

Click the link to the COVID - 19 Outbreak page.