Teenagers have highest positivity rate for COVID in BC

Photo: Glacier Media

Three Coquitlam high schools are under active monitoring for COVID-19 as the BC Centre for Disease Control reports teens aged 15 to 19 having the highest positivity rates among all age groups in the province.

The data reported for the week of Nov. 15-21 on BCCDC’s website, shows teens in this age group as having a positivity rate approaching 10% in the province, compared to 5% for children 0-9 years. For adults aged 20-39, the next highest, the rate was 9% while seniors 80+ have seen their rate of test positivity climb to 7%, from 3% in September.

Positivity rates are derived by the number of COVID-19 test positives per 100,000 of population.

While the information is from several days ago, it mirrors the most recent school exposure notices posted on the Fraser Health web portal, where currently five Coquitlam schools — three secondary, a middle and elementary school — are reportedly under active COVID-19 contact tracing and monitoring.

An exposure as recently as last week has been reported at Dr. Charles Best secondary school while additional dates were added to exposures at Centennial, Pinetree and Summit middle school in the week of Nov. 15 and 21.

At Centennial, Nov. 18  was added to previous dates of Nov. 16 and Nov. 17; Nov. 19 was added to Pinetree secondary school and Nov. 18 and 19 have been added to Summit middle school for exposure dates every day from Nov. 16-20.

Dr. Charles Best, meanwhile, saw new exposure dates of Nov. 23 and 24; that school’s previous exposure was Nov. 3.

At Leigh elementary, exposure dates of Nov. 16 and 17 continue to be listed on the Fraser Health web portal.
Keeping track of school exposures has become more challenging in recent days as additional dates are added to schools and it’s not known whether it’s another individual who has tested positive for COVID-19 on the school grounds during their infectious period or an additional date added for a previous case.