WESTLOCK/BARRHEAD - The spread of the novel coronavirus in northern Italy has forced the Pembina Hills School Division to cancel an upcoming R.F. Staples School trip to the country.
“There’s huge disappointment. They were really excited, and we were really close (to leaving). That excitement, it’s kind of like waiting for Christmas and now that’s been taking away,” said R.F. Staples principal Wayne Rufiange.
The 15 high schoolers were supposed to be in Italy from March 19-29. As of March 11, there has been one death in Canada as a result of the virus, and 93 cases — 14 of which are in Alberta and are travel related.
Alberta Health Services says three of the new cases are from the Edmonton zone. They involve a man in his seventies and a woman in her sixties who had travelled together, and a woman in her thirties who had also recently travelled outside of Canada.
The other four new cases are from the Calgary zone. They involve a man in his fifties, two women in their thirties and a woman in her forties.
The travellers had returned from visiting a range of countries, including France, the Netherlands, Egypt, Iran, Taiwan, Germany, Malaysia, Trinidad and Tobago, Panama, the Philippines and the United States. Several of the cases visited more than one country on their trip. One individual was also on the same MS Braemar cruise ship in the Caribbean as a case announced March 9.
“The board’s decision to cancel the trip was based on the recent spike in cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in regions of northern Italy, where the cities of Milan and Venice are located,” reads a statement from PHSD following trustees' Feb. 26 meeting.
Those were two of the cities on the students’ itinerary, in addition to Florence, Siena and Rome.
Incidently, the Italian government has since put the entire country under lockdown to halt the spread of the virus, introducing restrictions on travel and events like religiious services, concerts and sporting events. Schools and universties, theatres, restaurants and nightclubs were also closed.
Italy has now seen more than 9,000 reported cases of the virus and 463 deaths.
Students have been fundraising for close to a year for the trip. Rufiange says that for this school year, students don’t have the option to, for example, pick a new location.
“Unfortunately … we have to treat it as a brand-new trip. We can’t say ‘you’ve raised this money so let’s go to Hawaii instead during that same time.’ It’s policy, there’s a lot of steps.”
The younger students in Grades 10 and 11 have an opportunity to plan a different trip for next year and redirect the existing funds.
“The ones that are hit the hardest, of course, would be our Grade 12s … there’s a full refund for theirs,” said Rufiange.
Students can use the money they fundraised to cover any fees that pertain to cancellation.
There will be a meeting this week, said Rufiange, when students can discuss their preferences for the future with the teacher organizers. If the students returning next year choose to plan for spring break 2021 travel, they’ll have to apply for board approval all over again.
Other area schools were also affected by the viral outbreak. Aspen View Public Schools cancelled trips to Thailand, Greece, Belize and Italy. In Edmonton, the public school board nixed 23 trips to Europe and the U.S. from 19 schools; the catholic board cancelled two trips to Japan and one to Italy and Spain.
Japan delegation cancels trip to Barrhead
The spread of the virus also forced the cancellation of a weeklong visit by a student delegation from Barrhead’s twin town of Tokoro Cho/Kitami City in Japan.
Shelley Oswald, chair of the Barrhead & District Twinning Committee, confirmed via e-mail that the visit had been cancelled to keep the students safe.
The five-member delegation was supposed to arrive in Edmonton March 6 and spend the rest of the time with host families in Barrhead.
The itinerary included a visit to the Barrhead Composite High School and Barrhead Library, a tour of the town and visits to Northplex Ltd. and Schmidt Livestock. The group was then sceduled to return to Japan Friday, March 13.
“We are looking at hosting in the fall of this year if travel is safe,” said Oswald.
Japan has more than 1,000 cases of the disease recorded. The Globe and Mail reported that at least 34 Canadians are currently hospitalized there and all were travelers on the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was quarantined for two weeks in February off the port of Yokohama.
Andreea Resmerita, TownandCountryToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @andreea_res
With files from Kevin Berger
