Central Memorial High School moves all classes online due to COVID-19 outbreak

Central Memorial High School in southwest Calgary will move all classes online until after spring break due to a large COVID-19 outbreak.

While Alberta Health and the Calgary Board of Education would not say exactly how many cases are linked to the outbreak, the province confirmed there were more than 10 cases of COVID-19 linked to the school.

A case involving one of the coronavirus variants of concern was identified at the school on March 8. On March 16, the cases had grown to two or more and Alberta Health Services initiated an investigation.

The school originally notified all Grade 11 students on Thursday that they would be learning online from March 19 to 26 due to "a number of positive cases." As of Monday, students in Grades 10 and 12 will also be learning online.

In-person classes will resume after spring break on April 6, school principal Gord Baldwin said in a notice sent to parents on Sunday.

Baldwin wrote that the school has contacted each family affected by a positive case, and that Alberta Health Services will be following up with those individuals.

The CBE said the school is currently the only one in the district to have all grades learningonline due to an outbreak.

As of Friday, around 12 per cent of schools in Alberta (297 schools) were on alert or had outbreaks, with a total of 1,241 cases. In-school transmission is believed to have happened in 214 schools.