Chaffee County Public Health has received confirmation of a positive case of Covid-19 at Avery Parsons Elementary School in Buena Vista.
It is believed the child was exposed to the coronavirus through close contact with a family member and not withing the school itself.
The positive case is recovering in isolation at home. All close contacts to the positive case have been contacted by Public Health. In the case of a school-aged child, close contacts include the entire classroom, as well as anyone outside of the classroom who was within 6 feet for greater than 15 minutes. As a precaution, Public Health and Buena Vista School District have quarantined a second classroom of a sibling of the positive case. Students, staff, and other close contacts have been instructed to quarantine at home for 14 days since the last exposure. Individuals who are quarantined should stay at home and not go to school, childcare, after-school activities, or any other activity around other people.
Chaffee County Public Health Director Andrea Carlstrom said, “We have been preparing for this inevitable scenario for months, and we are confident that the collaboration between the schools, Public Health, and the medical community will get us through each situation that arises. Quarantining entire classrooms is not a failure of the system, but rather it is the most impactful public health intervention that we have available. Our goal is to keep children in in-person learning for as much of the year as possible, and the only way to do that is through these measures.”
Chaffee County Public Health will offer free testing in Buena Vista tomorrow and Salida on Thursday.
Testing is by appointment only. Appointments must be made by the end of business the day before the testing clinic.
To be screened and scheduled, call Public Health at 539-4510.
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