Student, staff member test positive for COVID-19 at Shannen Koostachin Elementary School

A student and staff member have tested positive for COVID-19 at a Shannen Koostachin Elementary School.

The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board said the staff member tested positive on Nov. 5.

In a letter to parents, the school said impacted families and staff members identified as contacts have been notified by school administrators and have been instructed to self-isolate for 14 days.

Public health and the board will collaborate on contact tracing, the board said.

This marks the third confirmed case of COVID-19 at Shannen Koostachin Elementary. The school was declared the site of an outbreak in October, when two staff members tested positive.

The recent case is not connected to the previous cases, so no outbreak will be declared, the school said.

In the Catholic board, one student tested positive at St. John Henry Newman Catholic Secondary School. The board announced the case on Thursday.

The student was last at school on Oct. 30.

Hamilton schools and child-care centres have reported 37 COVID-19 cases in total. The vast majority of the cases pose a low risk to the school community, and have not been linked to spreading within the building.

Jacob Lorinc's reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. The funding allows him to report on stories about education.