The medical officer of health for Huron Perth Public Health says the potential does exist for COVID-19 to show up at a school in Huron or Perth this fall.

Dr. Miriam Klassen said if that happens they have to be ready to deal with it. But she added their focus is on prevention and they’ve been working closely with the school boards to reduce the chances.

Dr. Klassen said one of the important components of that will be daily screening.

“One of the most important components of this will be daily screening, so screening all staff that enter the school and all adults and all parents are asked to look over a screening document every day and not send their child to school if they have symptoms.”

Beyond that, she said all of the social distancing protocols should be in place, older students should be wearing masks and younger students are encouraged to wear then as well and they’ll be cohorting and hand washing as much as possible.

Dr. Klassen said for the most part, young people are more likely to have a mild case of the disease if they get it and they don’t appear to be very good spreaders of the disease.

Dr. Klassen said in the event that a case shows up in a school, public health would learn that first from the test and then they would work with the school.

“So who are the close contacts, who needs to self-isolate and we give them detailed instructions about what they’re supposed to do, whether they’re to be tested and we would decide if, and when, a school would need to close a part of a school or a whole school. That would not need to happen right away because of one case.”

Dr. Klassen said a plan is in place to deal with whatever arises, but the key and the first step is prevention and that’s everyone’s responsibility.