Dr. Stanwick confident outbreak contained at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital

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Wing locked down after outbreak was declared last Saturday

Island Health's chief medical health officer says he's confident an outbreak of COVID-19 at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital is contained. The outbreak was declared last Saturday, after two staff and one patient tested positive for the virus. The east wing of the hospital's fourth floor has been locked down. Dr. Richard Stanwick says he's confident that it will not spread further.

"It does appear that at this point in time, it is limited to that area. Nanaimo has it contained. Remembering, Nanaimo had an experience with an outbreak earlier. They've built on that experience and are certainly aware of what the infection control measures that are needed to contain it to that particular area."—Island Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Richard Stanwick.

Today's COVID 19 numbers show there are 30 new cases of the virus in the Island Health region, bringing our active case count to 236. Province-wide, there have been 546 new cases confirmed over the past 24 hours and 12 deaths.

2020 saw a small decline in the Indigenous graduation rate, but is trending upwards compared to prior years

Graduation rates in the Nanaimo Ladysmith School District have improved for some groups of students, but not for others. New data shows graduation rates for students with special needs increased by more than 5% last year and by more than 8% for students whose first language is not English. However, the graduation rate of indigenous students declined by 1.4% last year, compared to the year before. School District 68 Superintendent, Scott Saywell says the reasons for the decline include socio-economic inequities and the challenges of COVID-19.

"We know students that are going to struggle. They're children that are new to our country. They're children from low socio-economic situations and they're indigenous children. not all of them, but a lot of them. And we know that covid has disproportionately affected students in low socio-economic situations."—School District 68 Superintendent, Scott Saywell.

Saywell says the district has tried to help overcome COVID-19 challenges by providing computers for online learning, but students continue to struggle. The school district board's vice-chair Jessica Stanley says she's concerned that the raw data provided by the ministry of education doesn't tell the whole story.

"And that, to me, it portrays our school district inaccurately, because it doesn't indicate what great work we do in this district. It doesn't indicate what great work we do to lift those students up, and I worry that this is undermining to confidence in our system and to staff."—SD 68 vice-chair Jessica Stanley.

Although indigenous graduation rates fell slightly last year, they have been steadily increasing in the Nanaimo Ladysmith School District. In 2017 the graduation rate of indigenous students was 56%, whereas last year, it was just under 68%.