VANCOUVER -- An investigation that involved testing dozens of students at a B.C. high school as concluded with no additional cases being located, health officials say.
Earlier this week, rapid tests were used en masse at a school in Maple Ridge, after it was determined students and staff may have been exposed to the variant B.1.1.7.
In an update Wednesday, provincial health officials said the investigation has since concluded at Garibaldi High School.
The case that prompted the investigation was confirmed to be the variant first discovered in the U.K., but that person has since recovered and "there is no longer an exposure risk," the provincial health officer and health minister said.
And, Dr. Bonnie Henry and Minister Adrian Dix went on, of the 81 students and eight staff members tested for the novel coronavirus, all of the results were negative.
It was briefly thought that one other person in the school cohort may have it, based on the results of a rapid test.
That test was later deemed a false positive, after the person was given the "more reliable" polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, Henry and Dix said in a statement.
"Our B.C. COVID-19 pandemic response is a careful balance – protecting our communities and also keeping open as much as we can that is safe to do so," they said.
These variant cases are being closely monitored as there are concerns they may spread more easily.
The B.C. Centre for Disease Control says there is no evidence to suggest the mutations cause more severe illness and don't interfere with the effectiveness of the vaccine, however.
Dr. Henry said Monday that health teams are searching for these cases through random sampling in areas where COVID-19 cases are increasing, as well as conducting targeted testing of specific demographics and of all travellers known to have the disease.
As of Monday there were 14 known cases of B.1.1.7 in B.C., and four of the variant B.1351, which was first identified in South Africa.
