By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
Five students and staff members at two school buildings tested positive for the coronavirus late last week, Sitka District Superintendent Frank Hauser said this morning in an email to school families.
The five identified cases are currently undergoing the required 10-day isolation period and parents of students who had come into close contact with the virus were notified, Hauser said in the email.
All district schools are open for in-person learning, with mask, distancing and other COVID mitigation measures in place.
“At the end of last week, we had our first active COVID-19 cases connected to two of our SSD buildings.” Hauser said in today’s email “...This is not a list of the people who ‘got COVID in school,’ but rather a list of people in our schools who happen to have COVID. As we well know, people contract COVID from many situations and locations, including travel, from family members or friends, or out in the community. In a couple of these cases in SSD, students then came to school with COVID-like symptoms.”
Two classrooms of students were sent home last week as a precaution, he said, but these students were allowed to return to in-person learning today pending a negative virus test. Infected staff are vaccinated, he said.
In his message, Hauser urged families not to send students to school with any COVID symptoms, which range widely but can include fever, headache, diarrhea, or loss of taste or smell.
Four cases were reported Friday at Keet Gooshi Heen Elementary School with one more at Baranof Elementary, the district website states.
“If you did not hear from us, then your student was not in contact with any of these COVID-positive individuals,” Hauser said in today’s email to families.
The district offers testing to interested students and staff members, the superintendent said. This testing caught two of the positive cases.
“Two of the positive students were identified using our new screening testing,” Hauser told families. “To date, we have tested hundreds of students, along with staff, and we will continue to provide testing to bring students and staff back in the building safely after we have identified a positive case. Testing also enables our students to avoid unnecessary, lengthy quarantines.”
Infections amount to less than one half of one percent of Sitka’s student body, Hauser said.
The superintendent contrasted Sitka’s infections with those occurring in other Alaska school districts.
“An Alaskan district that started without masking has reported 10 times the COVID-19 cases in students and staff,” Hauser said. “They have had multiple school closures, and nearly half of their schools have now switched to masking. Another large Alaskan district has also just switched to masking, as of today.”
In the Matanuska-Susitna School District, a surge in coronavirus cases has led to 21 of their 46 schools to require masks, the Anchorage Daily News reported Friday. Some Mat-Su schools have closed. All told, Mat-Su schools have experienced 723 COVID cases in staff and students since schools reopened last month, the ADN said. The Fairbanks North Star School District website indicates that masking there became mandatory today following a 5-2 vote of their school board.
In Sitka, Hauser re-emphasized the importance of masking.
“Masks aren’t forever, but we really need them right now,” he said.
