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District: Cd’A students didn’t come in contact with coronavirus patient

CRAIG NORTHRUP | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 years, 10 months AGO
by CRAIG NORTHRUP
Staff Writer | March 3, 2020 1:00 AM

A weekend jazz festival that ended up shuttering two Idaho school districts over fears of the coronavirus didn’t expose Coeur d’Alene students to the same risks, district officials said Monday.

“There’s no basis for closing schools for cleaning or quarantining students at this time,” Coeur d’Alene School District communications director Scott Maben said. “This was not something that impacted our students at all.”

The Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival that ran at the University of Idaho campus in Moscow last Friday and Saturday brought schools from around the Pacific Northwest. Students from six local schools — Lakes Middle School, Woodland Middle School, Skyway Elementary, Sorensen Magnet, Lake City High and Coeur d’Alene High — traveled to Moscow for the event.

Students from the neighboring Troy School District and the Genesee Joint School District were among the schools to attend, as were students from Jackson High School in Everett, Wash.

A student at Jackson High also happens to be the first — and, as of press time, only — student in the Pacific Northwest to test positive for the coronavirus, which has infected nearly 90,000 people worldwide, killing more than 3,000. Jackson High remained closed Monday as officials there ordered the Everett school scrubbed.

Maben said that while the Coeur d’Alene district’s concerns for the school remain paramount, Troy and Genesee districts’ decisions to close their schools Monday were based on different sets of circumstances. Students from Jackson High were staying at Genesee school facilities to help offset travel costs, while students from around the Northwest stayed in Troy facilities.

Maben said CDA School District released a Sunday email to parents with kids who attend area schools. The email explained the circumstances surrounding the children’s possible exposure, emphasizing that no students have so far exhibited any symptoms of the coronavirus. While the email urged calm, it also urged vigilance, such as washing hands often, covering coughs and avoiding sick people.

Maben added the point of the email was not only to inform but also to communicate calm during a worldwide event that can easily induce panic.

“It’s just out of an abundance of being cautious and transparent,” Maben said. “We wanted parents to have the same information that we have: There’s no evidence of an outbreak in our schools at this time.”

Maben added that school district officials will meet frequently for information updates and strategy sessions as district staff monitor the spread of the virus.

The infected Jackson High student did not attend the University of Idaho-sponsored festival. The student is under home quarantine and reportedly “doing well,” according to Dr. Chris Spitters of the Snohomish Health District. The student missed almost all of last week but was not diagnosed with the coronavirus until Friday, the day Jackson High’s music students arrived in Moscow.

While the Jackson High student is the only Pacific Northwest student to test positive, his school is by no means the only one to close out of concerns over the coronavirus. Jackson High was one of 11 western Washington schools to close Monday. The Colville School District closed Monday, as well, after an unknown individual with ties to its district was tested for the virus. District officials, who did not reply to requests for comment for this story, would not say if the patient was either a staff member or student. Test results are due back within the next three days. Colville schools will remain closed until further notice.

Troy and Genesee remain the only Idaho districts to close any schools over concerns of the outbreak. Forest Hills Elementary in Lake Oswego, Ore., is also closed through Thursday after one of its employees became the first Oregonian infected with the virus.

Maben said the Coeur d’Alene School District has specific policies that deal with the exclusion of students from school if they are diagnosed with certain illnesses — including mumps, measles and hepatitis A — or if students exhibit certain signs of sickness such as vomiting or abdominal pain.

Nichole Piekarski, lead nurse for the Coeur d’Alene School District, said safety of the student body and staff will always come first.

“In the event of an outbreak of COVID-19,” Piekarski said in a statement, “if we become aware of a case in one of our school buildings, that student or staff member will be excluded from the building. The building will be closed temporarily to allow for a deep cleaning according to the recommendations of Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. In partnership with the health department, all individuals who may have come in contact with the affected student or staff member will be notified of the risk of exposure and provided with directions on what to watch for and what to do if experiencing symptoms.”

She said a licensed doctor or the Panhandle Health District, the latter of which regulates school closures in the event of communicable diseases, will ultimately decide the student’s or employee’s re-admission.

She further explained that if an outbreak develops in the area but outside a school, her nurses will focus on keeping students in classrooms to limit contact with others, regulating or restricting large group gatherings and extracurricular activities, emphasizing hand-washing and surface hygiene — such as sanitizing keyboards after use — and support students and staff members who fall ill.

Maben said continued monitoring, communication and adaptation will be required as the situation’s urgency grows. He added the district is developing a coronavirus-specific policy, but that district officials have little precedence to rely on.

photo

Lake City High School students head home after school on Monday. Coeur d’Alene School District officals say the past weekend’s jazz festival at the University of Idaho didn’t expose students to the same risks of two Idaho school districts that closed because of the coronavirus.

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