No more cases of COVID-19 were discovered at the Ellerslie Secondary School.
That news came earlier today from Minister of Health, Jeffrey Bostic, after he toured the country’s lone Psychiatric Hospital, as part of International Nurses Week.
Speaking to the media after the tour, the minister revealed that aggressive contact tracing of primary and second contacts of the student who contracted the virus was ongoing, and he was glad to report no further cases were discovered since Monday.
“There is no outbreak at this time at any school in Barbados. There was a positive case that entered The Ellerslie School, and that became a case of serious concern,” Bostic told reporters.
He revealed 28 students attended the same class as the index case from Ellerslie, and six teachers directly associated with the student were identified.
“Those persons have been tested, and we’ve invited all others (at the school) to be tested as well. All the (first) tests came back negative, and we’ve also tested the parents of the positive case, which are also negative.”
Second tests will also be conducted out of an abundance of caution.
Bostic said public health officials also decided to test other people to cover their bases, inclusive of those who worked with primary and secondary contacts of the student.
“Some persons are also in quarantine and we will just watch this process as it unfolds and see if there are any further developments.”
The minister said contact was made with another member of staff of Ellerslie who reported displaying symptoms and that person was tested though they had no contact with the student who has the virus or members of the class. That test too, was negative. (BA)