Mountain View Elementary student tests positive for coronavirus

A student at Mountain View Elementary School tested positive for coronavirus, but the school will remain open for in-person classes.

Greater Latrobe School District Superintendent Georgia Teppert reported the positive test result in a letter to district parents posted on the district website.

She said district officials were notified of the case Monday afternoon and received guidance from the state Department of Health.

Close contacts of the student were provided to the Department of Health and are to be notified if they are required to quarantine, Teppert said.

Anyone who has been within 6 feet of another person who is positive for coronavirus for more than 15 consecutive minutes is considered a close contact.

The school, one of three elementary buildings in the district, will remain open, Teppert said. Parents who choose to have their children remain at home and receive online instruction must notify the child’s homeroom teacher.

On Sept. 23, Teppert reported three students had tested positive for coronavirus at that point in the school year. She didn’t indicate to which schools those students were assigned, but the cases did not result in any building closures.

Since the beginning of the school year, Greater Latrobe families have had the option of sending elementary students to in-person classes five days per week. On Sept. 28, the district transitioned to full-time, in-person instruction for secondary students, replacing a hybrid program that provided classroom instruction two days per week and online learning three days per week.

Online instruction has been offered as an option for all district students.

In late August, Teppert revealed that two Greater Latrobe employees had tested positive for the virus, but she said no students were affected at that time, and the cases didn’t interfere with the start of the school year.