Two groups of students in the Buena Vista School District moved into quarantine Friday, Nov. 13 and are expected to remain in remote learning mode through next week.
The students include a classroom at Avery-Parsons Elementary and a group of about 20 from Buena Vista Middle School (BVMS).
The remainder of the district’s students are in-person at school.
A positive case of COVID-19 was identified in a person at Avery-Parsons and BVMS and according to a school district release, close contacts have been contained in cohorts. The district says that while not confirmed, it is believed that individuals were exposed to COVID-19 outside of school, following a pattern of cases not spreading in the schools thus far.
If a child is quarantined, other children from that household may continue with in-person learning.
“The District understands when a cohort or school must quarantine, this is disruptive to family work schedules,” wrote Superintendent Lisa Yates. “Our commitment as a district is to continue to keep our schools open to in-person learning while our county continues to have low transmission levels, hospitals are equipped, and testing results are available quickly. Quarantine of two weeks is a strategy to continue in-person learning for most students, most of the time.”
The school district is in daily communication with local medical providers and public health in keeping up with the local COVID-19 landscape. At a time when COVID-19 numbers are exploding throughout much of the U.S. and rising quickly in Chaffee County, Colorado and local officials are asking people to follow precautions and adhere to restrictions — even if they haven’t before or even if they may be tired of masking, distancing and canceling social gatherings — to allow schools to continue in-person learning.
Chicago reinstated a stay-at-home advisory on Thursday, Nov. 12. On Friday, with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham saying her state was at a “breaking point,” New Mexico issued the country’s most restrictive state rules since the Fall surge started. As of Monday, Nov. 16, residents are instructed to shelter in place and essential businesses will run at limited capacity.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced on Friday a two-week statewide “freeze,” to include the curtailing of gatherings prior to Thanksgiving.
All told, the U.S. reported 181,194 new cases and 1,389 deaths on Nov. 13 with a total of 244,250 deaths since the start of the pandemic. Colorado, with a running total of 156,000 cases, reported 6,499 new cases with a total of 2,541 deaths and 36 new deaths.
As of Saturday afternoon, Chaffee County reported five new cases, 35 in the past week and 61 in the past 14 days with a total of 512 in-county cases over time, 46 out-of-county cases, 15 deaths due to COVID-19 and 20 deaths among cases. A 51-year-old man was the most recent county resident to die.
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