Hempfield Area lists 4 elementary covid cases on first day of school

Hempfield Area School District began the 2021-22 school year with four confirmed or probable cases of covid-19 among elementary students.

There were three cases on Thursday, the first day of school, among students at Maxwell Elementary and one at West Hempfield Elementary. The cases were posted Friday afternoon on a covid tracker page on the district website.

Superintendent Tammy Wolicki said those cases were not enough to require closure of any school buildings. The case count on the tracker includes any student or staff member with a confirmed or probable case of covid who was present in the school setting while infectious.

Hempfield Area has adopted a mask-optional policy for students inside district schools. They are required to wear masks while riding school buses, in accordance with a federal mandate.

According to district protocol, based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a student who tests positive for covid-19 is to remain in home isolation. They may return to school once 10 days have passed from the start of their symptoms, as long as their symptoms have improved and they are fever-free for 24 hours.

A district staff member is assigned to develop a list of close contacts of ill students and inform those who were at risk of possible exposure.

Students who were within 3 to 6 feet of an infected student in a classroom are not considered to have had close contact if the infected student and the exposed students correctly and consistently wore well-fitting masks throughout the period of exposure.

Members of an ill student’s household and staff who had close contact with the student are advised to quarantine according to local health department requirements. CDC guidance provides that people who are fully vaccinated and do not have covid-19 symptoms need not quarantine, but they should get tested after an exposure to someone with covid-19.

Wolicki declined to comment on whether the case at West Hempfield was related to a potential covid-19 exposure at that school’s kindergarten orientation, which was held Tuesday.

At the end of the school day on Thursday, in accordance with advice from the state Department of Health, students at West Hempfield Elementary took letters home to alert families that had attended the orientation about the potential exposure, Wolicki said.

She said that letter resulted when the district was informed that a person who attended orientation later received a positive covid test result. She declined to say whether the case involved a student.

Though she did not reveal the number of students involved or what school they are assigned to attend, Wolicki said, “We had some children who were already quarantined prior to the start of school, and that extended into the start of school. Teachers are providing them instruction remotely.”

It wasn’t clear how many of those students were quarantined because of a positive test result or how many were quarantined because of a potential exposure.

Because those cases occurred before the beginning of classes, they aren’t reflected in numbers reported on the covid-19 tracker.

Wolicki said a daily update of the tracker on school days doesn’t occur before 4:30 p.m. She noted case numbers may be added retroactively, depending on when the district learns of them.

She said district staff are continuing to look into any additional potential covid exposures.

“If we’re made aware, we will inform those affected if there is a potential exposure, following the advice of the Department of Health,” she said.