COVID Cases In Highland Schools
On the evening of Tuesday, March 2nd, Highland County Public Schools announced that, due to COVID-19 exposure, the school system will move to virtual learning for for the rest of this week and the week beginning March 8th, at a minimum.
According to a free-access story in the Highland Bath Recorder, Superintendent Dr. Tom Schott said the students were not in school Monday. They attended school Tuesday, and parents removed them from school that afternoon to have them tested for the virus, which returned positive.
Dr. Schott said “They exposed multiple grades, those on the bus, teachers – fortunately 90 percent of my staff has been vaccinated.” He is not allowed by law and regulations to say which grade levels were affected, or provide further details.
He has been in contact with Virginia Department of Health officials for guidance, and provided VDH with a list of everyone who might have been exposed. He said health department officials will conduct contact tracing, with help from teachers, on those who may have been in contact with the affected students, and notify families of other students who may have been exposed, telling those exposed to quarantine for two weeks. He noted the last time an exposure took place at HCPS, health department officials acted quickly, and he expects they will do so again this time.
There were JV and varsity volleyball games against the Bath County Chargers Tuesday night, hosted in the Highland High School gym. Dr. Schott said he did not know about the positive test results until about three minutes before the varsity game ended. He said he asked VDH officials whether the Bath County players could have been exposed through Highland students. He said the students involved were not at the game, and the health department told him there was no reason to be concerned about “secondary exposure.”
We thank Anne Adams and The Recorder for the information in this story.
Story By
