15 Active COVID-19 Cases in Kahnawake

There are 15 active cases of COVID-19 in Kahnawake. A total of 111 cases in the fourth wave, most of those are of the Delta Variant according to the public health team. The preponderance of the new cases are among school aged children.

As of Wednesday evening seven classrooms at Kahnawake Education Center (KEC) schools are in isolation as a result of positive cases and close contact.

Part of the measures being put in place to limit the spread of the virus among school children will be increased protocols on school buses. Students will be assigned seats. That would allow for easier contact tracing in the event of the discovery of a positive case. It would allow for fewer students and families to then be placed in isolation.

“We would make a requirement for students to wear medical grade masks on the buses,” Lisa Westaway, the Executive Director of the Kateri Memorial Hospital Center, appearing on Kahnawake 911, said. For now, drivers and bus monitors will hand out those masks to students who board while wearing a cloth mask. But the free masks will only be temporary.  That responsibility would then fall to the students and their families.

Westaway says that the virus can appear to be very mild in children which is why the public health team is stressing the importance of the daily health check. “It really reduces the presence of kids with symptoms in schools,” she said. “When you do identify  a COVID related symptom that you keep them home from school. We know that Children have very few symptoms with COVID. They might have a headache and a runny nose. It might last an hour or two the night before bed. However, those are COVID related symptoms and they do warrant staying home and being tested.”