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CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. —

P.E.I.'s chief public health officer Dr. Heather Morrison and P.E.I. Education Minister Brad Trivers have announced that schools and childcare centres across P.E.I. will close as of March 17 until April 6.

“We are continuing to monitor the situation around COVID-19 and we will reassess when new information becomes available,” said Morrison.

“These school closures and daycare centre closures re implemented as preventative measures and we’ve talked before about the hope to flatten the curve of COVID-19 and help contain the spread rate of spread of (the virus).”

These are the latest measures the government of P.E.I. is taking in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19 strain).

Schools were already scheduled to be closed this coming week for March break. Earlier in the day, Morrison had cautioned parents of children in childcare centres to self-isolate if they had travelled out of the country and to keep any children home who were experiencing illness of any kind.

Morrison said she was in conversations all afternoon coming to the decision to close centres instead.





During the same briefing Sunday evening, Morrison said Mark Arendz provincial ski park in Brookvale is closed for the rest of the season. All provincially run visitor information centres will also close.

“These decisions certainly are not made lightly, because they impact many people, many people in our community and we are particularly concerned about childcare for our essential workers like health care workers,” said Morrison.

“The situation as we know is evolving very rapidly and we are trying to adapt continuously to the information. It is the health and safety of our Islanders that is an important priority.”

She added minimizing the impact of the virus of local businesses and families was also a top priority, but said it was a decision she’s been wrestling with.

On Saturday, Morrison said P.E.I. had its first confirmed case of coronavirus.

The confirmed case is a woman in her 50s from Queen’s County who returned from a cruise on March 7, experienced symptoms on March 10 and self-isolated.

On March 11, she was tested and a positive result was returned Saturday afternoon from testing at the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg, Man., said Morrison.

“The woman is at home with mild illness. She is well and her family is well.”

Anyone she may have come in contact with was contacted by Sunday, said Morrison.

Trivers said his department will be working closely with education authorities like the Public Schools Branch and the Commission Scolaire de Langue Française as well as the P.E.I. Teacher’s Federation and CUPE.

“Our team … has a business continuity plan that they are going to put into place and that is going to be something that will be determined over the next day or so,” said Trivers.

When asked what kind of costs will result from public school and early daycare centre closures, Trivers said his department is working on those numbers, but did not comment on specifics.

“It is a very important question and right now we are working out those details and coming up with those numbers,” said Trivers.

“Starting right now and over the next day, we are going to have those numbers in place, both for compensation on the daycare side as well as estimates about the costs on the education side. I don’t know those details right now but I would expect them in the next day or so.”

For P.E.I. coronavirus information:

Islanders with questions are directed to call the toll-free information line, 1-800-958-6400. The line is taking messages 24-hours a day, seven days a week and Islanders who leave a message will receive a call back within 24 hours.

If experiencing symptoms (cough, fever, or shortness of breath) within 14 days after international travel, they should call 811 for screening and, if necessary, directed for testing.

Those requiring immediate medical attention should call 911.

For general questions about the virus, visit www.princeedwardisland.ca/covid19

With files from Michael Robar/The Guardian

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