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Positive COVID-19 cases result in quarantines at Eagle Valley, Battle Mountain high schools

24 students and six staff directed to quarantine

Battle Mountain High School.
Daily file photo

Positive COVID-19 cases at two local high schools has resulted in quarantines for a combined 24 students and six staff members.

Eagle County Schools, in a Friday release, stated that COVID-19 notifications were sent to the families of students who attend Eagle Valley and Battle Mountain high schools on Wednesday afternoon regarding one positive case at each school.

At Battle Mountain, a staff member tested positive, and through contact tracing by public health workers, six staff members and 15 students were directed to quarantine. The staff member who tested positive was last in the building on Tuesday. Students and staff directed to quarantine are eligible to return to school on Nov. 4.



At Eagle Valley, a student tested positive, resulting in nine other students to quarantine. The infected student was last in the building on Monday, with students out for quarantine eligible to return to school on Nov. 3.

Both positive cases were traced to household transmission. So far, no transmission of the virus has happened at school. Positive cases have been identified, precautionary quarantines have been implemented by public health workers, and no student-to-student, student-to-staff, or staff-to-student transmission has happened as a result, the school district stated in its release.

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The district has had to quarantine and transition students and staff to temporary remote learning since the start of the school year due to isolated positive cases. Earlier in the week, the district announced that a student at Homestake Peak School had tested positive for COVID-19, prompting a transition to remote learning for a seventh-grade cohort group.

The efforts have been to contain the spread of the virus and have so far prevented transmission in schools. Rather than blanket quarantines based on specific cohort size, public heal workers are looking at seating charts, lunch partners, extracurricular activities and honing their focus on those students who had the closest contact with a positive case. This keeps more students and staff members on their regular schedule while still protecting the school population.

“COVID-19 remains a very challenging issue for our community and the school district,” Superintendent Philip Qualman stated in the release. “We’re very grateful to our parents, students, and staff for the tremendous efforts they’re making with face coverings, social distancing, and being careful outside of school. As a community, we should be proud of our collective effort. I know I am.”

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