2 coronavirus cases reported in Belle Vernon Area School District

Two cases of coronavirus were reported Tuesday in the Belle Vernon Area School District, according to a letter to parents from Superintendent Michele Dowell.

The cases were from the same household, one in the high school and the other at the middle school, she said.

Contact tracing was not necessary under state health department guidelines because of when the buildings were occupied, she said. The high school is in Rostraver, Westmoreland County, and the middle school is in Belle Vernon, Fayette County.

The district is operating under a phased reopening. Students in grades two, three, seven, 10, 11 are set to return to school four days a week on Monday. They will join kindergartners and first-, eighth- and 12th-graders, along with career and technical school students, who went back to class four days a week on Oct. 5.

The district is shooting for Nov. 9 for students in all grades to resume classes five days a week. Full-time remote learning remains an option.

Schools around the area have been reporting positive cases of the virus in their buildings and closing schools, if advised by state officials.

Nearly 3,000 positive cases of the virus in Westmoreland County and 883 in Fayette were reported as of Tuesday, according to state health department data. There had been 63,619 negative cases in both counties combined.

Records have been set and reset recently in Westmoreland County, as new reported coronavirus cases continue to increase. The current record for most new positive coronavirus cases reported since March was 90 on Monday, according to state figures.

The seven-day average (70 cases) and seven-day total (493 cases) in the county are records.