Credit: LevittownNow.com
The Bristol Borough School District announced Sunday that a staff member and a student have COVID-19.
The district, which began returning students to classrooms on a hybrid schedule earlier this month, broke the news in a letter to parents on Sunday.
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Superintendent Dr. Rose Minniti said the district employee caught the virus through family and has not been in any schools or within close contact with teachers or students since last Tuesday. They learned their diagnosis on Saturday.
The second case was of a high school student who learned of their positive test on Sunday, Minniti said.
Contact tracing efforts were underway and cleaning efforts have been stepped up.
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Below is Minniti’s full letter:
This weekend we had two confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the District.
First, we learned Saturday that an employee has tested positive for COVID-19. The employee contracted the virus through family contact, and not as a result of contact within the school community. The employee originally tested negative for COVID -19 earlier in the week, but took a second test in an abundance of caution on Saturday, which yielded a positive result.
The employee has not been in the elementary or high school buildings since Tuesday, October 20th and has had no significant physical contact with teachers or students since that date. While in the buildings, the employee wore a mask, used hand sanitizer, and maintained social distancing protocols. The buildings are also sanitized several times during the school day in addition to being thoroughly cleaned and sanitized every night. The employee is currently under the care of a doctor and is only experiencing mild symptoms.
Any student or staff that was in direct contact with the employee has already received direct communication from the District and are following the recommendations of the Bucks County Department of Health and the policies and protocols adopted by the District. The Bucks County Department of Health has also been notified.
The second positive COVID -19 case is a high school student. The student received notice of a positive COVD19 test today. The district has made direct contact with the families of students who may have had close contact with the positive student. If you did not receive a phone call, then your child is not considered a close contact. A close contact is defined as contact closer than 6 feet for greater than 15 minutes. We are also working with the Bucks County Department of Health to ensure we provide any information necessary to ensure the health and safety of our school community. If your student had contact with the positive student outside of school, you will be contacted by the Bucks County Department of Health. As a precaution, we are also deep cleaning the room where the student attended class.
All students and families are reminded that they should be regularly checking for symptoms of COVID-19. The most common signs and symptoms include: fever greater than 100 degrees, cough, shortness of breath, headaches, body aches, fatigue, loss/altered sense of taste or smell, diarrhea, and runny nose/congestion. Anyone experiencing any of these should stay home from school and consider contacting your medical provider. It is vital that we all do what we can to protect the safety of the entire Bristol Borough Community. Please let me know if you have additional questions.
Sincerely,
Dr. Rose Minniti
Superintendent of Schools
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