Hastings Prince Edward Public Health has made changes in how families are notified about COVID-19 cases in school settings.
The move is being made to ensure any high risk contacts are informed as quickly as possible.
Previously, all high risk contacts in school environments were notified via a direct phone call from a public health representative but now school boards will provide automated phone calls.
The automated call will provide critical information about isolation and testing requirements and will be supported by a detailed letter.
Low risk contacts will also receive an automated call and supporting letter.
Individual phone calls were time consuming and with the rising number of cases in the area, becoming difficult to complete in a timely fashion.
The press release from the Health Unit stresses that infection control measures are working, noting that to date, there does not appear to have been any spread of COVID-19 within local classrooms and only one occurrence of spread within bus transportation.
