Six new COVID-19 cases reported in Flin Flon district, including case at Ruth Betts school

The Flin Flon district's streak without new COVID-19 cases is over. Six new cases of the disease have been found in the district, according to provincial statistics released Saturday.

The six new cases were added to the provincial dashboard for the Flin Flon/Snow Lake/Cranberry Portage/Sheriddon district March 6, almost three weeks after the district's final previous active case was considered recovered. The six new cases were part of 45 new cases reported throughout the Northern Health Region (NHR) March 6.

The Flin Flon district saw the most cases of any district in the NHR aside from the Cross Lake/Pimicikamak district, where 28 new cases were found.  The origins and exact location of the Flin Flon district cases - aside from them being somewhere in Flin Flon, Snow Lake, Cranberry Portage or Sherridon - are unknown.

At least one case has been directly linked to a Flin Flon school. Ruth Betts Community School announced March 5 that at least one person at the school had tested positive earlier in the week and was at the school March 2 during a period when they may have been infectious. The person was in the Wolf cohort of the school, which consists of some of the school's Grade 3, 4 and 5 students. A letter was sent out to parents and the public on the school's official Facebook account March 5.

"The school is working closely with public health officials and is following their recommendations. Close contacts have been identified and are advised to self-isolate along with their household members," reads the letter. Parents not identified by school officials or public health are advised that their child would have not been a close contact of any case at the school. The school or Flin Flon School Division (FFSD) is not permitted to share personal information about anyone who tests positive with anyone in the community, including media or employees.

Children or school staff who develop any possible COVID-19 symptoms are asked to isolate from others and to be tested as soon as possible after the symptoms appear.

"Public health officials are also advising that for anyone who is symptomatic, or who has a household member who is symptomatic, the entire household needs to self-isolate pending COVID-19 test results," reads the public health letter.

While the Flin Flon district had not seen any active cases of COVID-19 since mid-February, other communities near Flin Flon have seen case loads increase. In Pelican Narrows, the community currently has 114 active COVID-19 cases according to the local Angelique Canada Health Centre, while the Pukatawagan-Mathias Colomb district north of Flin Flon has reported 16 active cases, all in the past 10 days. Both communities have locked down due to concerns about COVID-19 transmission.