By James Tubb
BELLEVILLE – Seven new cases of COVID-19 have been associated with Loyalist College, the school confirmed on Tuesday.
According to the Hastings Prince Edward Public Health Unit information circulated by the college, the seven new cases are a low risk for transmission to the college campus community. Only two of the seven students were on campus during their infectious period.
Since November 19, there are now a total of 17 cases of the virus associated with the school. Some students of the 17 were on campus when they were infectious, but others were not. All 17 cases were deemed low risks to those on campus.
Mark Kirkpatrick, senior vice-president and CFO at Loyalist says that the college can’t control where people work or what they do away from school.
He says it is the college’s job to ensure that anyone walking through the doors to the college are healthy and safe but that it is also everyones responsibility to answer questions honestly to keep others safe.
“We are doing our job and everyone else is doing their job here,” he said.
“It only works if everyone adheres to the rules. Only works when people are following the rules.”
Loyalist is informing staff and students about every case that involves an individual from within the college.
The message being delivered by the health unit, is that anyone who is deemed to be at risk for contracting the virus or being in contact with those infected would be reached directly by either public health or the college.
If staff or students were not contacted, they are perceived to not be at risk and can continue visiting campus as normal.
To streamline the increasing amount of COVID-19 updates, Loyalist started adding graphics to their announcement to help with clarity and transparency, on Friday.
This is an example of the college’s graphic now being used in its releases to staff and students. Screen capture by Loyalist College.
On Nov. 26, Loyalist College President Anne Marie Vaughan and representative from HPEPH hosted two town hall meetings for staff and students to address the college’s rise in COVID cases.
President Vaughan emphasized the need to reduce the risk of transmission. She asked that anyone from a grey lockdown zone (Toronto and Peel) or a red control zone (Durham, Hamilton, Halton, Waterloo, and York) to stay home and avoid traveling to campus.
The college has yet to announce their plans for what will happen to students who return home to red or grey zones for Christmas break and whether they will be allowed to return to in-person classes in January.
“We are working on a protocol that is reasonable to allow students on campus,” Kirkpatrick said. He said the college expects to announce the protocol next week.
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