Hundreds of kids have contracted COVID-19 in past weeks

More than 300 children and youth have tested positive for COVID -19 over the past two weeks.

According to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, as of Tuesday there were 438 children under 10 who had tested positive and 774 aged 10-19. On Oct. 5, that tally was 337 for children under 10 and 570 for those 10-19.

The category that has contracted the virus most widely are those aged 20-29, with 2,726 cases.

Since in-class learning resumed in the second week of September, there have been 215 COVID-19 school exposures reported, many of them caused by an infected pupil at the school. Despite that, health authorities have not declared outbreaks in schools, indicating the exposures in the schools have not led to the disease being passed on.

Parents at Rick Hansen Secondary in Abbotsford were told on Tuesday that there had been an exposure at their school as the provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, reported 167 new cases of COVID-19 in B.C. in the 24 hours ending noon Tuesday, and one death.

Henry said there were 1,688 active cases of the disease, of which 69 were being treated in hospital, including 18 in intensive care.

There have been 11,854 COVID-19 cases reported in B.C. and 254 deaths. The most recent death was at Peace Portal Seniors Village in Surrey, where 16 people have contracted the disease and two died. Henry said there were 4,156 people in self-quarantine after potentially being exposed to the disease. Close to 9,900 people who tested positive have recovered.