Martin County classroom to quarantine after student shows COVID-19 symptoms on Day 2

TCPalm. | by Sommer Brugal | August 12, 2020

MARTIN COUNTY — One day after the School District reopened for in-person learning, one class at SeaWind Elementary School was sent home Wednesday after a student exhibited symptoms commonly associated with COVID-19, district officials confirmed. 

The nine students who were in the classroom will be required to quarantine for 14 days, district spokesperson Jennifer DeShazo said. The other students, she said, were already enrolled in remote learning and will continue doing so from home. 

The teacher — deemed an essential worker by the district — may return to the classroom to live-stream lessons from there, but will maintain a distance from others, DeShazo said. The teacher will be required to stay at home and quarantine if symptoms begin, she said.

The district does not release the names of teachers and students or specific classrooms citing HIPAA, a medical privacy law.

The student’s parents were notified by the school staff, she said.  

Sending students home to quarantine is something district officials anticipated could happen, DeShazo said.

“It’s the nature of having in-person school during a pandemic,” she said.

District officials took action “immediately,” she said. The school contacted the remaining students’ parents or guardians after receiving confirmation from the Health Department the students in the classroom met the criteria for being contacts to a presumed positive case, DeShazo confirmed.

The classroom will be deep cleaned, she said. 

DeShazo encouraged parents to keep their students home if they’re not feeling well. It’s the best way to mitigate the spread of the virus, she said.

“We don’t want students or staff to be sick or ill or have to quarantine,” she said, “but we’ve prepared for it to the best of our ability.”