At least seven people impacted by Christian Heritage outbreak

The COVID-19 outbreak at Brandon’s Christian Heritage School came into sharper focus Friday, with the province now identifying seven people who have been affected.

According to the government’s outbreak dashboard, one staff member and six “non-staff” members have recently contracted the coronavirus at Christian Heritage.

This information contradicts the province’s COVID tracker map for K-12 schools, which, as of Friday afternoon, only associates two cases with the school for the two weeks prior to Sept. 22.

Public-health officials first revealed this outbreak in Thursday’s COVID news bulletin, where they mentioned that this specific spread of coronavirus is linked to the delta variant.

As a result, the notice went on to state that at least one Christian Heritage class has moved from in-person instruction to remote learning until Oct. 1, although no specific grade was identified.

Christian Heritage principal Bryan Schroeder declined to disclose any more details about the outbreak during a Friday morning conversation with the Sun.

Instead, Schroeder fell back on the official statement that he emailed the Sun Thursday: "Christian Heritage School is continuing to follow public health protocols and is working closely with public health to ensure the safety of students, staff, and the school community."

Christian Heritage is the sixth local school to be impacted by COVID cases since the 2021-22 academic year began on Sept. 7.

Throughout this time, individuals from Vincent Massey High School (Grade 12 class), Riverheights School (Grade 1 class), Betty Gibson School (Grade 1/2 class) École New Era School (Grade 5/6 class) and École O’Kelly School (three separate grades) have all contracted the virus.

However, this marks the first time the province has declared an outbreak for a Brandon-based school this fall and the first time a local K-12 institution has shifted to remote learning.

Elsewhere in the province, a Grade 1 class in Steinbach’s Woodlawn School also moved to remote learning earlier this month after a student or staff member tested positive for the virus.

Overall, the province has registered 70 total COVID-19 cases in Manitoba K-12 schools since the beginning of fall semester, according to its online dashboard Friday afternoon.

Of the 70 cases, 60 are students and the remaining 10 are school staff.

Christian Heritage School is not managed by the Brandon School Division but falls under the jurisdiction of Christian Schools International.

The school first opened its doors in 1975 and currently supports a student population of around 150 pupils, according to the province’s COVID tracker map.

» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @KyleDarbyson