St. Ed’s counselor positive for COVID-19; no students exposed
STORY BY GEORGE ANDREASSI (Week of November 5, 2020)
A counselor at St. Edward’s School tested positive for COVID-19 in mid-October, but did not come in close contact with anyone on campus, a school official said.
“She did not expose anyone, so we didn’t have any additional quarantines,” St. Ed’s spokeswoman Monica Jennings said last Thursday.
It was the third COVID-19 case at the barrier island private school since the new academic year started on Aug. 20.
A teacher and a student were also diagnosed with the virus earlier this year, Jennings said. Contact tracing led to 24 lower school students going through a 14-day quarantine period.
“Everyone is back to school and things are going well,” Jennings said. “We continue to be really vigilant about proper protocols and we’re happy thus far with how it’s going.”
Meanwhile, three Indian River County public school employees tested positive for COVID-19 in the past week, matching the previous high from the week of Sept. 8 through Sept. 14.
A staff member in the Transportation Department tested positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 29 resulting in eight students being directed to quarantine show. It was the district’s first off-campus case reported since schools reopened on Aug. 24.
A staff member at Dodgertown Elementary School in Vero Beach also tested positive for the virus on Oct. 29, causing 17 students to be quarantined.
It was the third staff member at Dodgertown Elementary to be diagnosed with COVID-19, more than any other school in the district. A student has also tested positive.
In addition, a staff member at Vero Beach High tested positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 28, but contact tracing found no one at the school had been exposed show. It was the first VBHS staffer diagnosed with the virus.
A Vero Beach High student tested positive for the virus on Oct. 27 and 16 students were directed to quarantine. A total of 11 students have tested positive for COVID-19 at VBHS and 235 students and two staff members have been directed to quarantine this school year, records show.
A Sebastian River High student tested positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 29 and 17 students were quarantined. That makes five students diagnosed with the virus and 63 students quarantined.
Overall, 36 students and 9 staff members have tested positive since school started Aug. 24 and 640 students and 16 staff members have quarantined.
So far, none of the quarantined students came down with COVID-19, Schools Superintendent David Moore said.