3rd Deer Lakes staff member tests positive for covid-19

Another Deer Lakes School District staff member has tested positive for covid-19, but the district as of now still plans to return to in-person instruction five days a week starting next month.

A staff member at Deer Lakes Middle School tested positive for covid-19, according to Superintendent Janell Logue-Belden.

This is the third district staff member, and second staffer at the middle school, to test positive for the virus this month. The other two positive covid-19 cases were reported on Oct. 12 and Oct. 20.

The district notified families of the latest positive case in a letter dated Wednesday. The letter didn’t identify the infected person. District spokeswoman Coby Detar said privacy laws prevent the district from doing so.

News of the third positive case comes about a week after the school board approved reinstating a five-day-a-week in-person learning model for students.

Deer Lakes has operated on hybrid and fully online learning models since the beginning of the school year. But after strong demand from parents, school directors voted to return to full-time, in-person instruction.

Students will be able to return to school full-time starting Nov. 9. Hybrid and fully online learning will remain available for students and parents not comfortable with going back to school full-time.

“We will continue to communicate with the Allegheny County Health Department and review information regarding covid-19 procedures to ensure the safety of our staff and students to make decisions of returning to school full time, hybrid learning or the remote learning models,” Detar said.

Logue-Belden in the letter said the district notified the county health department about the latest case, in accordance with the district’s health and safety protocols.

The letter said the district is following through with the recommended health and safety protocols, including having the infected staffer quarantine at-home for at least two weeks until their symptoms have passed and they have been cleared as no longer positive.

Logue-Belden said anyone who was in close contact with the infected staffer has been informed of the situation and instructed to follow mandatory quarantine at-home procedures for two weeks.

Logue-Belden said parents or students who test positive for the coronavirus must inform their school nurse or school administrators as soon as possible and begin quarantining immediately.

Covid-19 mitigation efforts imposed by the school district include wearing masks, social distancing when possible in classrooms and on buses, washing hands, and regularly disinfecting and cleaning frequently used or shared spaces, items and surfaces.